Does PR mean coalitions? As New Zealand shows – it’s all down to the voters The New Zealand Labour party are celebrating a landslide win, with 49 percent of the vote and enough MPs to form a single-party government on their own. This is the first time since New Zealand... Posted 20 Oct 2020
Looking back at a decade of proportional representation for local elections in Scotland "When we now come to use Westminster’s one-person-takes-all system in Scotland, it seems perverse and unwieldly." Posted 04 May 2020
Is there proportional representation in Scotland? For most of the 20th century, every election in Scotland was conducted under the First Past the Post system, from elections of MPs to local councillors. Much like in the rest of the UK, this... Posted 05 Sep 2019
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
It’s time for Westminster to join Scotland in shunning First Past the Post First Past the Post elections are like trying to peel potatoes with a chainsaw. For much of the UK, people have come to think this clunking old method of giving people a say is the same as... Posted 24 Aug 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
Something in the air Scotland is shrouded in a muggy haar today, and it feels as if we’ve been cut off from the rest of the world in order to concentrate and exercise our democratic right to vote: for... Posted 18 Sep 2014