Takeaways from the Parliamentary Roundtable on Automatic Voter Registration
Parliament should represent the voters – all the voters. That is impossible while an estimated 6-8 million eligible people remain missing from the electoral register, disproportionately young people, private renters and people from ethnic minority communities.
Burnham's First 100 days: Five Steps to “A New Politics”
Andy Burnham has spoken repeatedly about the need for a different kind of politics. His first 100 days as Prime Minister will shape whether that promise becomes reality.
Starmer’s Lords legacy is his leadership in microcosm
Bold promises of radical change lacked coherence, yielding disjointed and contradictory results.
The Grounded Principle: Rebuilding Trust Through Democratic Reform
Grounded Civic Representation is a democratic scrutiny system that temporarily brings experienced people from sectors such as healthcare, education, transport, engineering and other public-facing professions into government review processes.
Christopher Harborne has exposed the flaw in Labour’s donations policy
A universal cap on political donations is simpler, fairer and far harder to sidestep.
The Election Denial playbook: we don’t want to see that here
Trump is claiming another election has been rigged, this time in California.
It’s time for a cap on donations: Will Steve Reed and the Government act?
Big money donations to political parties are doing huge damage to trust in our politics.
Who should pick the next Prime Minister?
The decision about who governs the country should rest with those accountable to the voters: MPs.
Over 100 MPs sign amendment calling for electoral reform
The government is coming under increasing pressure as MPs from across Parliament call for a review of Westminster’s First Past the Post voting system. Over 100 MPs have now signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill calling for a National Commission on Electoral Reform.
Scotland's voting system is far better than Westminster's, but this election shows change is needed
Elections to the Scottish Parliament are regularly highlighted by democracy campaigners as a viable alternative to Westminster's indefensible First Past the Post system. But after last month’s produced Scotland's least ever proportional election, changes are needed north of the border too.
Why First Past the Post can’t cope with Britain’s multi-party politics
Britain’s two-party system didn’t just weaken this May. It broke. With it have gone the political conditions First Past the Post requires to work properly.
May elections will show voting systems matter
We’re about to see which electoral systems still make sense for the politics Britain actually has.
What would Keir Starmer do?
Did the Prime Minister knowingly mislead Parliament on Mandelson’s appointment? Can everything be pinned on a single civil servant acting alone and without any knowledge of the Foreign Secretary or anyone in No 10?
Hereditary peers to go - this must be just the start
A second chamber that relies on the patronage of modern day Prime Ministers through life peerages is hardly a giant leap forward over the descendants of men given hereditary peerages hundreds of years ago!
Foreign interference from a new source
The presence of Vice President JD Vance campaigning alongside Orban last week did not seem to sway voters.
Rethinking How Decisions Are Made
Dr Peter Emerson’s new report, Egalitarian Decision-Making, argues that the binary nature of voting in our democracy leads to flawed decision-making, and should be replaced with a system of ranking different options.
The House of Lords is increasingly illegitimate
Removing hereditary peers won't go far enough to give the Lords legitimacy
Rycroft: “Foreign interference in our politics is real and persistent”
This country faces a persistent problem of foreign interests seeking to exert influence on, and to interfere in, our politics. Too much of this is malign and seeks to sow distrust and exacerbate divisions in UK society, with the ultimate aim of undermining confidence in our democracy.
Voters beat the system in Gorton and Denton - but next time?
Elections are increasingly a test of how well voters can navigate the First Past the Post voting system to stop the result most don’t want.
The good chaps rule lives on
Keir Starmer had a front row seat for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s shenanigans. At the time, Starmer showed a forensic ability to expose the then PM’s lies and misdemeanours.
Yet now he is in power, those investigative talents seem to have deserted him.