Tag: Patrick Dunleavy
To engage younger people in voting the UK must provide far more integrated and accessible information about elections
The quality and accessibility of information about elections in the UK needs to be improved in order to enhance voter engagement, especially among young people, argue Democratic Audit’s Richard Berry and Patrick Dunleavy. In an extract from Democratic Audit’s new report, they discuss the weaknesses of existing sources of pre- and post-election information and, drawing […]
Lord Armstrong’s EU Bill Amendment shows the way forward for the framing of referendum questions
The Conservatives EU Referendum Bill fell in Committee stage in the House of Lords, meaning that there is likely to be no referendum on the statute book before the next election. During the Bill’s hearings, Lord Armstrong proposed an amendment to the wording of the proposed question, which took up the suggestions of Democratic Audit […]
England needs an integrated public services ombudsman, organised regionally
The House of Commons Public Administration Committee is currently considering the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Co-Director of Democratic Audit gave evidence at the Committee’s most recent hearing on the topic. In this post, Richard Berry summarises the evidence presented and highlights key recommendations for improving the Ombudsman’s role […]
Votes at 16: democracy experts respond to Ed Miliband’s proposal
Ed Miliband used his speech to the Labour Party conference this week to announce his support for lowering the voting age to 16 for all UK elections. This follows the decision to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. In this post, Democratic Audit asks leading experts and practitioners to respond […]
Parliament bounces back – how Select Committees have become a power in the land
Much reformist discussion of the House of Commons views it as an institution in permanent decline, operating in a museum-building with stuffy and out-of-date processes that MPs stubbornly refuse to change. But Patrick Dunleavy and Dominic Muir show that the reforms pushed through in 2009-10 by Tony Wright have already made a dramatic difference. The […]
The EU referendum question included in the Conservatives’ private members’ Bill is both highly biased and vague: it would actively misinform UK voters
The Electoral Commission is now consulting on the highly loaded question that the Conservatives have proposed in their EU referendum private members Bill. Patrick Dunleavy shows how the Tories’ question wording falls at the first hurdle on fairness and specificity grounds. He sets out a more balanced and definite alternative, but also explains how every reader can […]
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