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With first past the post, country and city voters take turns being locked out of government

Far too often, debates around electoral reform are characterised as the idea of making two pie charts match: one pie chart represents how the country voted, the other the make-up of parliament. The 2015 general...

Posted 28 Feb 2019

the way we elect MPs divides the country

The Tories should trust young people

Cecilia George is a former Member of Youth Parliament for Wiltshire and wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. 16–year–olds are deemed mature enough to join the...

Posted 25 Aug 2018

My dad would have been ready to vote at 16, and today’s young people are too

Lisa Francis is the former Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales and wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. Last year, my dad died at the...

Posted 24 Aug 2018

Scotland shows that votes at 16 works

Miles Briggs MSP, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothian wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. Arguments for and against votes at 16 are often highly subjective....

Posted 23 Aug 2018

Britain’s democratic story is unfinished – let’s write the next chapter

Sir Peter Bottomley MP, the Member of Parliament for Worthing West wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. “What it means to be a truly democratic...

Posted 22 Aug 2018

Why Votes at 16 is the next suffrage bridge we must cross

Nicky Morgan MP, Member of Parliament for Loughborough and former Education Secretary wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. On July 2nd, we marked the 90th anniversary...

Posted 21 Aug 2018

An updated Conservative case for Votes at 16

Owen Meredith, Chairman of the Tory Reform Group wrote this piece for our pamphlet Civic Duty The Conservative Case for votes at 16 and 17. In 2015, the TRG put together the Conservative case for Votes...

Posted 20 Aug 2018

Why pressure is growing from the PM’s own ranks to back votes at 16

The Electoral Reform Society has launched a new pamphlet titled ‘Civic Duty: The Conservative Case for Votes at 16 & 17.’ Below is its introduction written by ERS Chief Executive, Darren Hughes. British politics is...

Posted 11 Jul 2018

George Osborne is far from the only Tory backing Votes at 16

Votes at 16 not a Tory policy? Think again. George Osborne has become the latest in a succession of Conservatives to throw his weight behind extending the franchise. He tweeted this week: More Tory MPs...

Posted 16 Feb 2018

How do Conservative Party leadership elections work?

(Updated for 2019!) Historically there weren’t elections for the leader of the Conservative party, but, following the machinations surrounding the appointment of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, elections among the MPs were brought in in...

Posted 05 Jul 2016