Change. That was the driving message of Labour’s successful general election campaign, and change was very much on the agenda for the ERS Comms team (as far as the electoral system goes) as we’ve been kept busy with requests over the last few weeks of the campaign.

On election night

We’ve spent the last few months meeting journalists to discuss what could happen, and to make sure they understood the background on our issues.

Across the evening of the general election, whilst many of you were watching the exit poll come in, we were busy briefing journalists and commentators with the unexpected situations that our voting system often throws up. This original research was used across the main coverage, including Channel 4, the BBC, and Sky News. Our briefings also made its way into an episode of the chart topping political podcast, The Rest is Politics.

After the election

Post election, we have toured TV studios and papers to give journalists and the public the info they need to digest the election results. Our research team found that the 2024 general election results were the most disproportionate in British electoral history. It was an evening of firsts for other reasons too for example, this election was the first ever which saw four parties receiving 10%+ of the vote share.

Armed with this work, we arranged  for our Chief Executive, Darren Hughes, to go onto BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live, Times Radio  and the BBC Breakfast sofa to make the case for  proportional representation. We even had our research confirmed by BBC Verify.

You might have noticed that there’s a general election approaching. Whilst the date of the election may have taken us all a little by surprise, the ERS communications team were ready to go and making our issues headline news during the campaign.

The team are always working hard to get our issues onto the desks of Ministers and journalists, pushing vital democratic issues higher up the news agenda to increase public support.

At such an important time for British democracy it’s important for everyone to take stock of what we need to do to make our democracy fairer for everyone.

Reforming the House of Lords

With the launch of the manifestos the public got answers on how each of the main parties would choose to deal with our bloated and undemocratic second Chamber. Labour have declared a number of reforms will be in their priorities, if election; an age cap and productivity requirements on all Lords, and an end to the 92 aristocratic hereditary peers. All to eventually work towards a second chamber that is representative of the nation’s regions and nations.

Of course, as longtime campaigners for an elected second chamber we were asked for our opinion. We expressed our support for the proposed changes in the I and the Express.

Extending the vote to 16 and 17 year olds

Another announcement made by the Labour campaign in the last few weeks has been the intention to extend the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds, if elected. This is a huge win for us here at the ERS, as we have long been campaigning on this issue. We were featured in the Independent and GB News.

The millions missing from the electoral register

The huge amount of people who failed to make the registration deadline to vote in the General Election has highlighted our campaign for Automatic Voter Registration (AVR). A simple change that is likely to happen in Wales and would mean that one more administrative, time-consuming task is taken out of the hands of voters. We were featured in the Mirror and Politico and our Director of Research & Policy, Dr. Jess Garland, was invited onto the Politics Home podcast, the Rundown, to discuss this issue.

Proportional representation and safe seats

Thanks to our disproportionate electoral system, it’s no wonder that many voters feel they must turn to tactical voting to feel their vote counts and makes a difference. This is an issue we have been asked to discuss with many journalists, including the Independent.

Due to our unfair voting system, we compiled data showing that over 100 seats in the UK have not changed hands for 100 years or more. This research was featured in Byline Times, the Conversation, and the Big Issue. On the Pod Save the UK podcast Dr. Jess Garland was invited in to discuss how safe seats are breaking our electoral system.

Whatever the outcome of the General Election, the Electoral Reform Society team will be looking for every opportunity to make democratic reform front-page news.

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Despite being one of our country’s shortest ever Prime Ministers Liz Truss dominated the headlines over the festive period. The ERS press team were ready and waiting to get our arguments around the House of Lords into the coverage.

The team are always on the lookout to get our issues into the press, giving stories to journalists based on our original research, sending out comments on current affairs, and writing letters and opinion editorials for leading publications.

The Liz Truss List – making the case for Lords reform

The Government provoked controversy when it chose to sneak out Truss’ long-awaited resignation honours list in a strategically timed announcement on the 29th of December. The ERS has long been at the forefront of advocating for reform to the House of Lords so our arguments on why the Truss list was a blow to democratic principles were heavily featured across the coverage.

The BBC, in the most read article of the day, carried our quote from Willie Sullivan – our Director of Campaigns. He highlighted that the power to make appointments to the House of Lords was an insult to many, following the effect of the disastrous ‘mini-budget’ and its effect on the nation’s and families finances.

The Observer also carried our quote from Willie and focused on the fact that Peers are given a lifelong power to legislate for the British people with the privilege of very little public scrutiny. Our continued pressure on the issue is paying off, as the article also highlighted Labour’s plans to not issue a resignation Honours list if Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.

We also got our Director of Research & Policy, Dr. Jess Garland, on to Channel Four, Sky News and BBC Breakfast bulletins to discuss the appointments. In her interviews, Jess said it was unrealistic to expect forPrime Ministers not to use their extensive powers to install people in the House of Lords. She made the case that power needs to be in the hands of the people and advocated for a fully elected second chamber.

Campaign finance reform – a missed opportunity

Late last year, the regulations on finances were vastly extended as political parties now have a budget of £35 Million to spend in the run up to elections. We used these changes to get campaign finances back in the media spotlight.

We made the case that the new regulations missed the opportunity to improve the transparency of campaigning finances. The new budgets risk damaging public confidence in elections and our democracy as there are still many shady loopholes for party donations to be made anonymously. The ERS advocates for transparency in political financing as voters should be able to access information about who is paying for political advertising in an attempt to sway their vote.

We achieved some coverage in the Mirror on this issue following their investigation revealing that Rishi Sunak has outspent the Trump campaign on targeted Facebook advertising. Dr. Jess Garland was quoted in this article highlighting that the new rules are not done with voters and democracy in mind. Instead, that those few voters who live in target seats for each party will be bombarded with ads whilst those in safe seats remain ignored.

In a year so crucial to our democracy, the ERS will continue to campaign for both an elected House of Lords and greater transparency in political funding.

You can help get the case for reform in front of millions by supporting the work of the ERS media team – with membership of the ERS.

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Each year we write an Annual Report which looks back at our achievements across the last 12 months, and explains how our team have campaigned towards securing our vision for a democracy fit for the 21st Century.

By using our voice in the media, developing in-depth research and policy, campaigning and influencing and making the case online we’ve led the charge for reform in 2023.

Read the full Annual Report for 2023: Our Year Campaigning for Change

Scandal and crisis at the heart of government have dominated the news as we begin 2022. Yet in a packed news cycle of covid regulation breaking parties in Downing Street, and a pantomime-esque will-they-won’t-they over MPs triggering a no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson, we still managed to cut through the noise and highlight some dangerous threats to our democracy.

Defending our Democracy against the Elections Bill

The Government’s elections bill has continued to dominate our work, and debates and discussion around democracy in the media this month.

The bill, which passed through the House of Commons this month, saw widespread coverage as campaigners, politicians and experts spoke out against ministers’ plans for our democracy.

The Independent covered our call for MPs to resist the bill before the vote in Parliament, setting out how damaging to our democracy the plans will be. Our warnings were also covered by the Daily Record, the National and local and regional press across the country.

Our spokespeople also took to the airways to discuss the bill with Chief Executive Darren Hughes sitting down with Times Radio, Dr Jess Garland talking to Talk Radio and BBC Essex and, in Wales, Jess Blair spoke to ITV on the risks of imposing ID requirements on our elections that represent a ‘major blow to democracy’

The ERS’ work has shaped the debate around many of the policies set out in the bill, from voter ID to the imposition of the First Past the Post on elections for Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners – with politicians and experts quoting our work extensively.

From Crossbench Peer and former Head of the Home Civil Service Lord Kerslake, citing our warnings that scrapping the use of the Supplementary Vote will “only serve to disempower votes” in his column in the Local Government Chronicle, Plaid MS Rhys ab Owen in Wales Online to Claudia Webbe MP in the Morning Star the ERS analysis has continually been drawn upon by those opposing this dangerous bill.

Calling for reform to our politics

Elsewhere the Lords were back in the news as calls mounted for reform of the second chamber. Darren Hughes made the case for better regional representation in an elected upper house on BBC News and Dr Jess Garland spoke with Times Radio on the longstanding need for a radical shakeup to end the role of unelected lawmakers in our parliament.

We continued to speak out against dark money and for more transparency over who funds our politics in the Sunday Times, as new questions arose over the funding of campaign groups in Scotland.

Our work in Wales was covered in Wales Online with the launch of a new Open University film staring ERS Cymru’s Jess Blair, exploring the growth of misinformation and disinformation in Wales, and their damaging impact on democracy.

Our will work will continue to challenge the government on its plans for our election to ensure the voice of voters is heard loud and clear through the press before any reforms are signed into law.

You can help get the case for reform in front of millions by supporting the work of the ERS media team – with membership of the ERS.

Become a member of the ERS today.

The warping effects of First Past the Post were in the news again this month, with the Times’ Patrick Maguire penning a piece on the ‘one-party fiefdoms’ that plague our politics. Darren Hughes, responded with a letter to the Times highlighting the effects of one-party councils and the need for proportional representation in local government to ensure a broad range of views are represented in Town Halls across the country.

There was news on electoral reforms this month as the government announced plans to change the voting system… to First Past the Post as plans to scrap the current Supplementary Vote system for Police and Crime Commissioner and some Mayoral elections were announced.

As Willie Sullivan told the Independent, “Imposing Westminster’s broken first-past-the-post voting system on the mayor of London and mayoral and PCC elections across the UK is a step backwards that would see multi-million pound budgets handed to people the majority of voters don’t want – damaging accountability and undermining the legitimacy of those elected.

We were also featured in the Mirror, CityAm and Nation Cymru talking about how these proposals to introduce Westminster’s discredited voting system aren’t wanted.

Voter ID

The government continue to press on with their damaging plans to introduce mandatory photo ID for UK elections a move that would serve as ‘a wrecking ball to political equality’ as Josiah Mortimer told Politics.co.uk. Our warnings, that the move could block millions of voters who lack the required ID from the ballot box were also covered in the Guardian, the Independent and the Local Government Chronicle.

Local Democracy in Scotland

Late last month ERS Scotland launched their local democracy campaign calling for ‘genuine local democracy’ to be on the agenda in this May’s Scottish elections. The launch was covered by the National and we will continue to make the case for real community power in the coming weeks.

Willie Sullivan also sat down with BBC Radio Scotland’s John Beattie to talk about why local decision making should be at the heart of the post-covid recovery.

Campaign Regulations

As May’s bumper crop of local elections loom closer the issue of our outdated campaign regulations and electoral loopholes was once again in the press. Jess Garland highlighted the absurdity of our current laws in the Mirror as it was revealed that parties must declare who funds their hand sanitiser but not their online ads in the run up to next month’s polls.

We called out more damaging loopholes on financial reporting and lobbying in OpenDemocracy, the Sunday Post and BBC Wales as the extent of the gaps in our outdated electoral laws became clear across the UK

Building the New Foundations

Our friends at Politics for the Many launched a call for a bold democratic agenda from the Labour Party with the publication of New Foundations – a bold new collection of essays with Open Labour, featuring thinkers from across the left setting out a socialist case for democratic reform. Politics for the Many’s Nancy Platts marked the launch with a piece in LabourList with Open Labour co-chair Tessa Milligan calling for a bold response from Labour against the threats to our democracy.

Nancy Platts also called out the outdated House of Lords following a Sunday Times investigation into the role of unelected hereditary peers in our politics.

You can help get the case for reform in front of millions by supporting the work of the ERS media team – with membership of the ERS.

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As a new year begins, but the effects of the national lockdown continue, democratic issues continue to make the headlines – as we’ve kicked off the new year continuing our calls for fairer votes and a better democracy.

Time for a fairly elected second chamber

The fallout continued following the government’s Christmas surprise of a raft of new appointments to the bloated House of Lords, with the Mirror and the Express using our response in their piece on the new peers. We also provided comment on the Mirror’s investigation into non-voting peers. The research team’s analysis of the regional under-representation in the Lords also gained coverage in the Herald and the Birmingham Mail.

Meanwhile, we spoke out against the government’s plans to turn the clock back on our elections with Willie Sullivan using a letter in the Times to call on the government to reconsider imposing First Past the Post on Police and Crime Commissioner elections – a step backwards and a move away from the current supplementary vote.

We continued to work to increase pressure on the Labour Party to back fair votes and an elected second chamber.  In LabourList we called on Keir Starmer to back ‘radical constitutional reforms’ following the publication of a new report on Britain’s constitutional settlement.

Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland

In Scotland we welcomed the release of the Scottish Citizen’s Assembly’s final report, heralding the nationwide deliberative exercise a ‘blueprint for democratic participation’ in the Scottish Herald and Sunday Sun and the National. The ERS led the call for a permanent ‘House of Citizens’ as a second chamber in Scotland, a key Assembly proposal. Polling found it was backed by nearly half of Scots, a call covered by Holyrood magazine and the Evening Express.

While England lags behind on online campaign regulation in Scotland we welcomed the introduction of digital imprints for election materials, with Darren Hughes calling it ‘much-needed progress’ in coverage in the Times.

Stronger democracy in Wales

As the government presses ahead with its boundary review we used the reduction of MPs in Wales to renew our calls for a larger Senedd – resulting in coverage in the Nation and the Caerphilly Observer.

Elsewhere in Wales there was good news as the joint ERS Cymru led Citizens Assembly project in Blaenau Gwent held its’ first meeting – attracting local coverage for the first deliberative democracy project of its kind in the borough.

With May’s elections just months away and ongoing rumours the polls might be postponed we issued a call for clarity on the government’s plans to ensure democracy is not an afterthought during the pandemic.

You can help get the case for reform in front of millions by supporting the work of the ERS media team – with membership of the ERS.

 

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Despite the difficulties of 2020, the ERS kept up the pressure and make the case for political reform in a crowded news cycle.

From promoting our key campaigns through our analysis of the 2019 election and making the case for reform of the Lords, to responding to the threats to our democracy posed by the coronavirus pandemic – we made sure political reform was on the agenda.

Overall more than 1,000 news and comment pieces mentioned the ERS’ work in 2020 with major outlets including the Daily Mail, Guardian, BBC and Express covering our analysis. Here are some of the highlights.

Calling time on our broken voting system

In February, our landmark general election report was featured prominently, with Sky News and the Independent showing how millions of voters were systematically ignored by First Past the Post in December’s election and highlighting the case for real reform.

Throughout the year we continued to make the case for electoral reform with Darren Hughes spoke to the newly-launched Times Radio for a full programme on the need for PR, while backing STV for the second chamber on the BBC and Sky.

Shining a light on digital campaigning

In September, our Democracy in the Dark report revived the debate about Britain’s out-dated campaign rules.

The report hit the headlines on the BBC news homepage, the Mirror and in the Independent as well as getting a mention in the House of Commons. Darren Hughes wrote about the report’s findings for politics.co.uk whilst the report’s authors Dr Katharine Dommett and Dr Sam Power shared their findings with a piece for ConservativeHome and BBC Radio Scotland pouring pressure on the government to reform our outdated campaign laws.

In October, the Scottish government announced it would be introducing imprints for Scottish elections in May 2021, another step forward. On the 7^th January 2021, this came into force – and Westminster must follow suit.

Standing up for democracy during covid-19

Despite the pandemic dominating the headlines, the ERS got our pro-voter messages far and wide. We were among the first to call for virtual proceedings, and won change through our public pressure and media work over the summer after our calls were backed my MPs. When we branded plans to force MPs back ‘beyond a farce’, that phrase led the headlines picked up everywhere from the Metro, to the Evening Standard, the Mail, and in the international press too and led to a partial government U-turn.

Demanding reform to our unelected second chamber

It’s been another year yet more appointments to our bloated House of Lords so it was no surprise that hundreds of thousands of people signed our petition calling for a PR-elected second chamber. We hit the headlines in December when Johnson’s latest round of appointments took the chamber to nearly 830 members with our calls for reform covered in the Times, the Express and beyond.

We continued to reach new audiences through this campaign – whether that’s interviews in GQ or with a year-long blitz of coverage in the Daily Express

Opposing mandatory voter ID

We continued our campaign against mandatory voter ID, speaking out when the government announced their plans to roll it out nationwide.

As ministers confirmed plans to plough ahead with controversial plans, we brought together a coalition of equality groups that warned of the government ‘importing of US-style voter suppression’ to Britain.

We were also quoted in PoliticsHome, noting that with no evidence of ‘personation’ fraud,  voter ID is a solution without a problem.

The ERS continues to be Britain’s go-to commentator on political reform – all with one message: it’s time to drag UK politics into the 21st century, so all voters can be fairly heard at last.

 

We didn’t get this coverage by sitting around and waiting for journalists to call, but through proactive work from our dedicated team. You can help support their work by becoming a member of the ERS today. 

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In a month dominated by coronavirus and a second national lockdown in England as well as Brexit negotiations, democratic issues have still been in the news and we’ve continued to be at the forefront of calls to build a better democracy both here and abroad.

The US election

At the start of the month, the US elections dominated the headlines and we used the opportunity to turn the focus on some of our key issues drawing examples from across the pond.

Darren Hughes wrote a piece for i news calling for electoral reform in the US and UK – scrapping the warping effects of the electoral college in the States and Westminster’s broken FPTP system here arguing that ‘In both countries, it’s not who wins the most votes that matters for landing the top job – Prime Minister or President – it’s where they’re cast.’

We also used the election to issue a call to the government not to import US-style voter suppression laws to the UK in the form of mandatory photo ID – a call that was covered by the Daily Express and The Article.

Fair votes in Wales

We saw a big campaign win for ERS Cymru as the Welsh Senedd voted to revolutionise democracy in Welsh local government – backing votes at 16 and giving councils the option to ditch FPTP in favour of the Single Transferable Vote. The change was covered by LabourList, the Western Mail, Western Telegraph and localgov.co.uk.

Senedd member Julie James also took time to sit down with Josiah Mortimer to talk about the bill for an interview published by the Institute of Welsh Affairs and penned a piece heralding the changes for LabourList.

20^th anniversary of the Electoral Commission

November saw the 20^th Anniversary of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act which transformed our electoral law and created the Electoral Commission. We’ve been leading the defence of the Electoral Commission in the wake of continued calls for it to be scrapped or stripped of its powers as an independent regulator. At the start of the month, Darren wrote for politics.co.uk of the need to defend the Commission as well as the need to update our analogue-age election rules.

Our calls for beefed-up powers to meet the threat posed by the unregulated Wild West of digital campaigning were also covered in i news and politics.co.uk.

Ending the missing millions

Earlier in the month, we were at the front of efforts to force the government to adopt new measures to increase the number of 16- and 17-year olds on the electoral register. The proposals added as an amendment by the Lords to the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 2019-2021, would have increased rates of registration and helped to bring in some of the missing millions to the electoral roll.

The government ultimately voted down the proposals but our call and the case for improving voter registration was covered by the Independent and LabourList.

Elsewhere, we hit back at the Prime Minister’s comments that devolution had been ‘a disaster’ with Willie Sullivan writing in i news that his comments ‘represent a total failure of imagination when it comes to devolution and the benefits of moving decision-making power closer to ordinary people’ arguing that devolution is vital to ensure any ‘levelling up’ agenda the government might have, is a success.

The ERS also led the media for the Scottish Alliance for Lobbying Transparency’s call for transparency for lobbying, urging ministers to bolster the Scottish lobbying register, which was covered in the Scotsman.

This month has seen a renewed interest in proportional representation internationally. Willie Sullivan backed up the case for a fairer voting system in Canada, drawing on his experience in Scotland. “If you want a system of government that is better able to deal with divisions, you need a system that is based on consensus and representation of different views. Not just a black or white, wrong or right, we’re up-you’re down type of politics,” he told Canadian news outlets.

In New Zealand, ERS election research was cited as highlighting the true dangers of winner-takes-all – in contrast to PR. The election showed the value and power of equal votes.

ERS’ blogs were also picked up by the Guernsey press as they held a FPTP-on-overdrive election.

In the UK, the ERS were the only ones to draw the link over unfair distribution of Towns Fund spending, where millions were recently handed largely to marginal seats.

And we explained Labour’s newly-adopted STV voting system, as members pick the new National Executive Committee.

Voter ID back on the agenda

As the government confirms it plans to push ahead with mandatory voter ID, we put the issue back in the spotlight, as featured in the I newspaper.

We also brought together a coalition of organisations to explain the issue in this in-depth Byline investigation.

We’ll be following the conversation around voter suppression in the US with interest, with a large number of states having strict and often partisan ID policies in place this election.

Private member’s club

Darren Hughes spoke to GQ (sadly not about fashion trends) on the need for an overhaul of the second chamber. “You can understand why so many people feel ignored,” he said. “This pressure is going to come to the surface. Why not tackle it proactively and positively rather than deal with disaster and acrimony when people are fed up?”

Support for Lords reform came from all places, with Lord Jack McConnell saying he was ashamed of being part of the chamber, amid growing calls for it to be reformed. Several pieces such as this quoted our Survation poll which found just 12 percent of those polled back the Lords in its current state. In contrast, 43 percent say it must be reformed, while 28 percent say it should be scrapped altogether.

National spotlight

ERS Cymru re-launched their manifesto for Wales’ Senedd elections next May, with a full page spread in the Western Mail backing STV, greater diversity, and more resources for the Welsh Parliament.

October also saw ERS Cymru back calls for a return to virtual proceedings in the Senedd – a call that was heeded as Wales headed in to its ‘fire break’ lockdown.

In Scotland, Willie Sulilvan shined a light on corporate lobbying amid fears over legal loopholes.

Campaign rules

We kept pushing the crucial policies from the Democracy in the Dark report throughout October, as the Electoral Commission published new figures on spending which we pre-empted in our findings.

The ERS also spearheaded a letter in the FT marking the launch of the Centenary Action Group’s new report. We want to see greater transparency over candidate diversity.

And we kept working behind the scenes on vital consultations such as the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s review of the role of the Electoral Commission. UCL’s Constitution Unit drew on our evidence in this piece – well worth a read.

The pandemic has continued to highlight the dangers of hyper-centralised Westminster politics. ERS policies would go a long way to handing power back to voters across the UK. Over the next couple of months we’ll be reflecting on the US’ winner-takes-all system, exploring the need for virtual Parliament proceedings, sounding the alarm on voter ID, and continuing to push for PR both in Westminster and at a local level. Make sure you’re signed up for ERS updates so you can hear it first.

You can help get the case for reform in front of millions by supporting the work of the ERS media team – with membership of the ERS.

Become a member of the ERS today