A major loophole in Scotland’s lobbying register is undermining transparency – with voters left in the dark about lobbying during the pandemic.
Posted 04 Mar 2021
Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly, a deliberative body made up of 100 citizens reflecting the country’s demographics, concluded in January and published its visions for the future of Scotland. Citizens’ Assemblies which aim to create ‘mini-publics’...
Posted 09 Feb 2021
The experience of the covid-19 crisis has served to underline and strengthen the case ERS Scotland has long been making for a revamped local democracy. The work undertaken in recent years – alongside a range...
Posted 14 Jan 2021
Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly met last week for the first time since March. Like many social events and workplaces, the deliberative body, made up of 100 citizens reflecting Scotland’s demographics, has moved online after being...
Posted 23 Sep 2020
Wealth and power can get people access and influence that normal citizens can only imagine. It is, after all, why lobbying is a multi-million pound industry. That's why transparency is so vital.
Posted 17 Aug 2020
Monday marks 20 years since voters first used a proportional voting system for the London Assembly.
Posted 04 May 2020
"When we now come to use Westminster’s one-person-takes-all system in Scotland, it seems perverse and unwieldly."
Posted 04 May 2020
Democracy isn’t static, it is a process. It isn’t always simple or easy, and today it is being tested under the strain of a crisis of trust, one which affects political institutions, the public square...
Posted 30 Mar 2020
A new way of doing democracy is being trialled in Scotland – and the ERS is at the heart of it. Since October, over 100 members of the Scottish public have been meeting regularly to...
Posted 20 Mar 2020
A majority (54%) of voters in Scotland didn't vote for their MP, sparking renewed calls for proportional representation for Westminster elections.
Posted 13 Dec 2019