Lessons not Learnt: New report on 2015, 2017 and 2019 elections The last nine years have witnessed three general elections, a nationwide referendum and no less than five prime ministers. At times our politics has felt chaotic, and the output of the Westminster electoral system has... Posted 23 Jan 2024
How can a party lose support but gain seats? The upside-down world of Westminster’s voting system What would you expect to happen if a party gained support in a fresh election? Most people would expect them to gain MPs. It seems obvious that a change in popular support should lead to... Posted 14 Sep 2018
It’s time to make TV debates a core part of our elections The TV debate has become, in a relatively short period, a major part of British general elections. The expectation that Theresa May would take part, only for her to not, has even been described as... Posted 05 Dec 2017
2017 General Election Results While Labour achieved a nearly proportional result, getting just over 40 percent of the seats on 40 percent of the vote, the Conservatives took a skewed seat-share, with just under 49 percent of the seats... Posted 29 Aug 2017
The myth that Westminster’s voting system is ‘strong and stable’ has been bust for good If ‘strong and stable’ has been the motto of Parliament’s First Past the Post voting system, June 5th put an end to that myth once and for all. For the third time in a row,... Posted 24 Aug 2017
2017 was the first online media election. Let’s look at what this means for democracy According to recent research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2017 was the first general election where online news over took TV as the most popular source of news. But whilst this... Posted 29 Jun 2017
Britain is changing, so should our electoral system So, the Conservatives and DUP have agreed a deal. Despite the two previous elections failing to secure a ‘strong and stable’ government, few saw this coming. There’s a reason for that. Despite all evidence to... Posted 28 Jun 2017
‘Strong and stable’? Westminster’s voting system is anything but Voters won’t be bossed about – perhaps that’s the first lesson we should take from the election. From voting for a parliament where no party got more than half the seats in an election hinged... Posted 15 Jun 2017
First Past the Post’s Third Strike We’ve heard it time and time again in different forms: First Past the Post is ‘strong and stable’. It seems that myth has been well and truly bust. This is the third election in a... Posted 12 Jun 2017
Scotland’s multi-party system can never be represented by First Past the Post At the close of the polls on Thursday, people in Scotland will have faced 10 opportunities to vote in the last eight years. Of these elections and referendums, the general election is the only completely... Posted 08 Jun 2017