Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

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.

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

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?

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

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.

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

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. 

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

What Mandelson tells us about power

Power can be both formal and informal. Think of the first as the appointments and vetting process, the institutional element that permitted Mandelson to become Ambassador to the US. Think of the second as the network-effect of people-who-know-people.

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

Deja-vu over Mandelson

Whether Starmer survives or goes, one thing is clear - we can’t go on like this. Ethics and standards matter.

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Shaun Roberts Shaun Roberts

Dark days for democracy 

For the second year in a row, millions will see their local elections cancelled by the government. 

In some areas, residents will go SEVEN years without having any say on who their local councillor is, how their local council is run and how billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is spent.

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