News and Comment – Page 4 – Electoral Reform Society

Keir (Hardie) was a strong supporter of electoral reform

Labour, from its beginnings 100 years ago has promoted democratic reform. Keir Hardie was a supporter of the Electoral Reform Society (then called the Proportional Representation Society). Hardie, a leading Scottish socialist, helped found the...

Posted 24 Jan 2020

It will take more than moving the Lords up north to mend our broken politics

The phrase ‘moving the deckchairs’ has never felt so apt. Over the weekend, we learnt that Boris Johnson is mulling plans to move the House of Lords permanently to York. Or maybe Birmingham. Speaking of...

Posted 23 Jan 2020

It takes more than being near the Lords to connect people to them

Italian far-right fail to bring in First Past the Post

On Thursday last week, Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a request by the far-right League Party to hold a referendum to impose Westminster style First Past the Post (FPTP) for elections to both the Chamber of Deputies...

Posted 21 Jan 2020

Changing the voting system won’t solve Italy’s deep-rooted issues

The campaign for a fairer franchise just secured a major victory

16 and 17 year olds in Wales have officially secured the right to vote for Senedd elections, after a crucial piece of legislation received Royal Assent on Wednesday. 16 and 17 year olds in Wales...

Posted 15 Jan 2020

How do Labour Party leadership elections work?

The Labour Party leadership election formally kicked off this week as nominations for the next leader of the party opened for MPs. The party have published a list of nominations as they come in, updating...

Posted 09 Jan 2020

Because of the AV system voters won’t need to vote tactically

9 things you need to know about the 2019 General Election

You probably heard a lot about the number of seats parties won (and lost) in this month’s General Election. What was less prominent was just how poorly the results reflected how people actually voted. The...

Posted 24 Dec 2019

A 1% increase in the Conservatives’ vote share led to a landslide

ERS in the Press: 2019’s electoral reform news roundup

As the year draws to a close, here’s a snapshot of some of the work we’ve been doing at the ERS to put real political reform on the agenda in 2019. January We kicked off...

Posted 23 Dec 2019

Electoral Registration Officers – the Runnymede Trust want to hear from you

This is a guest post from Dr Zubaida Haque, the Deputy Director of the Runnymede Trust. There are over 8 million black and ethnic minority people in Britain, yet research from the Electoral Commission suggests that...

Posted 20 Dec 2019

Westminster’s voting system puts tactics above policies

Chelsea Oware reflects on the research undertaken during her university placement at the ERS. General elections are prime fodder for news outlets, who tend to focus on the ‘horse race’ between the two main parties,...

Posted 19 Dec 2019

With PR, we might hear less about tactics and more about policy

Our top 5 most read articles of 2019

Every year we take a look back on our most popular blogs of the year. It’s certainly been a busy year, with local, EU and now a General Election all within a few months of...

Posted 17 Dec 2019