The UK has a particularly confrontational - winner takes all - style of politics. We have to change that.
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The Greensill scandal made it clear that a coach and horses had been driven through the sketchy rules that cover ministers and lobbying activities. Nigel Boardman, appointed by the Government to investigate this scandal, recently published the second part of his report. It contained hard-hitting recommendations on how to promote transparency around the communications that Ministers have with lobbyists. Many of them sounded very familiar!
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The 2021 Canadian federal election has shone a spotlight on the flaws of the First Past the Post voting system. In Canada’s election, the First Past the Post system meant that the seats won by each party in Canada’s Parliament do not even vaguely reflect the vote share. The Liberal Party got 32.6% of the vote, but won 47% of the seats in Parliament.
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Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has given the starkest warning yet on the Government’s plans for the Electoral Commission. The Elections Bill, which is having its 2nd reading in the House of Commons today, will end the independence of the UK’s election watchdog. In future, the Electoral Commission will have its strategy and priorities set by a Government Minister and its work will be overseen by the Speaker’s Committee, which also has an unprecedented, convention-breaching Government majority.
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The row about David Cameron’s lobbying activities has grabbed newspaper headlines for months. An MPs’ report accused Mr Cameron of ‘a significant lack of judgement’ in lobbying the government on behalf of Greensill Capital. Documents obtained by BBC Panorama suggest Mr Cameron made over £3million for his efforts on behalf of the company.
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When Dawn Butler MP was ejected from the House of Commons last month for calling the Prime Minister a liar, it exposed just how ridiculous our political system is.
It is clear that on a number of occasions, in debates in Parliament, the Prime Minister has not told the truth. It is also clear that the rules of the House bar MPs from calling other MPs liars. Our political system has a penalty for the latter offence, but seemingly, not for the first.
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Peers in the House of Lords are failing to follow even the most simple rules on transparency and accountability.
Unlock Democracy has written to the Lord’s Commissioner for Standards to report the names of 40 peers who we believe are breaking transparency rules.
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The pipeline of lobbying scandals and possible wrong-doing flows unabated: an ex-PM ringing round Ministerial chums to promote Greensill, a senior Minister deleting Greensill-related government messages held in a private application, an MP on several select committees briefing businesses ahead of their appearances in front of select committees, an ex-Chancellor promoting his business with senior civil servants.
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