Tag: Tony Travers
England’s local elections 2018: why the results will matter for both government and opposition parties
On Thursday, 3 May, there are local elections in many towns and cities across England, including London. Tony Travers assesses what is at stake for the main parties, and what the key benchmarks for success will be in terms of local results and national equivalent vote share.
Audit 2017: How democratically organised and effective are the London boroughs in serving the capital’s population?
Within London the 32 London boroughs undertake most local services provision and planning, and play a major role in shaping the capital’s evolution. As part of our 2017 Audit of UK Democracy, Tony Travers looks at how well they fulfil their roles. A protest against the closure of libraries in Lambeth, 2015. Photo: Steve Eason via […]
England’s 2016 local elections: an indicator of the national political picture?
England goes to the polls on 5 May to vote in a variety of elections. Tony Travers and Martin Rogers highlight a number of key contests to analyse how local elections can affect local services, and also help to reveal the national political picture. Similar PostsEuropean elections 2019: what will happen in Scotland?Scottish Parliament election […]
Tax hyper-centralisation has failed to to produce balanced GDP per head. It is time to give devolution a chance
The UK is a centralised, and largely unitary state, despite the existence of an increasingly powerful Scottish parliament and government, as well as devolution for Wales, Northern Ireland, and London. Recent moves by the government have seen Greater Manchester empowered, too, but nonetheless most decisions are made in Whitehall. Tony Travers argues that the UK […]
20 things we learned about democracy in March 2015
The General Election is (nearly) here! And here at Democratic Audit UK, we’ve been ferreting away trying to find the most interesting clumps of information, conjecture, opinion and miscellaneous. Collating it all for your pleasure, as ever, is Sean Kippin, who has been helped enormously by the launch of the Democratic Dashboard – a new voter resource bringing […]
New electoral registration rules mean students are likely to be under-represented in the 2015 election
In this post, Jack Blumenau, Simon Hix, and Tony Travers argue that recent changes to the electoral registration process are likely to have significant consequences for the representation of students in the election in May. Similar PostsPrediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the futureEngland’s local elections 2018: why the results will matter for both […]
The Greater Manchester Agreement is only a small step towards greater devolution in England
This week, George Osborne announced an agreement to devolve powers to the Greater Manchester area. Tony Travers reviews the agreement and finds that, while any devolution in a country as centralised as England is to be encouraged, the deal is modest and conditional in nature and suggestive of a long, laborious road to further devolution in England. Similar PostsThe case against Directly-Elected Executive MayorsGeneral […]
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