Citizens’ assemblies can help us move beyond a broken Westminster model of politics This piece was originally published by The Scotsman. Talk of citizens’ assemblies is in the air. Former Conservative leadership contender, Rory Stewart has suggested holding one to break through the Brexit impasse. And on Monday,... Posted 20 Jun 2019
Democracy needs you: Cross-party group seeks evidence for how to update Britain’s ‘wild west’ campaign rules Last month saw a landmark in the push to overhaul Britain’s dangerously out-dated political campaigns laws. MPs from across the political divide stepped up efforts to update Britain’s analogue-age election rules, by launching the All... Posted 10 Jun 2019
ERS is the Press: May 2019 In a month that began and ended with elections for local councils and the European Parliament – both of which showed the changing nature of British politics and the continued decline of the two main... Posted 05 Jun 2019
Volatile voting: Why the next General Election is going to be a shambles Voters want to shop around more than ever – but they will be calamitously constrained by Westminster’s electoral system, according to new analysis by the ERS. 2015 and 2017 saw the highest levels of voter... Posted 04 Jun 2019
Ending the Punch and Judy show: How to get a more cooperative politics There is an uncomfortable fact for those who oppose moves to a fairer voting system: all the chaos we have seen in Westminster over the past few years has been under the ‘strong and stable’... Posted 30 May 2019
Ending the Politics of Division – How We Can Build a New Democracy after Brexit Ten years on from the expenses scandal that rocked trust in our politics and nearly three years since this Brexit deadlock began, Britain’s broken political system remains largely unchanged. No one can deny it: the... Posted 25 May 2019
Euro elections show how Westminster’s first past the post holds back women Elections to the European Parliament take place today across the UK. As we’ve talked about in a previous blog post, the UK’s 73 MEPs will be elected using proportional representation (PR). In Great Britain, the... Posted 23 May 2019
How is the European Parliament Elected? Voters across the EU will be heading to the polls this week to elect the 751 representatives to the European Parliament (known as MEPs). Elections will be held in the UK on the 23rd of... Posted 21 May 2019
Does Australia use First Past the Post? Australians head to the polls tomorrow to elect all 151 members of the Federal House of Representatives and 40 of their 76 Senators. Australian elections are world-renowned for their beloved ‘Democracy Sausages’ and the fact... Posted 17 May 2019
Even council leaders are uncomfortable with the ‘one party states’ of First Past the Post May’s local elections in England showed just how unfit-for-purpose the voting system is, as voters were left with random results and warped council chambers. The elections saw big swings against the two main parties, as... Posted 16 May 2019