Tag: Richard Berry
Interview: Nicholas McGeehan of Human Rights Watch on links between the UK and undemocratic regimes in the Gulf
Democratic Audit features short audio interviews with leading experts on the state of democracy and human rights. For our first interview, Richard Berry spoke to Nicholas McGeehan, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, on the way rulers of Gulf states have been cracking down on dissent at home while simultaneously deepening their relationships within […]
Choosing the Speaker of the House of Commons: some proposals for change
Should we change the way we select the Speaker of the House of Commons? The current system requires that the House select an MP, who then gives up their party label and their public political views. At general elections, Speakers’ seats are not contested by the main parties. Richard Berry and Sean Kippin argue that […]
Has the Office for Budget Responsibility achieved genuine independence from government?
Having been established by the government to take the politics out of fiscal and economic forecasting, the independence of the Office for Budget Responsibility is fundamental to its credibility and legitimacy. The appointment of Robert Chote as Chair in 2010 appears to have enhanced the OBR’s standing in this regard, but has not completely swept […]
London and the South East feature disproportionately in parliamentary CVs
Last month Democratic Audit published new data on the geographical origins of MPs, considering where they were born and went to school. In the second part of this analysis, Richard Berry examines where MPs went to university and worked before being elected. He finds, in particular, that the southern regions of England are over-represented in […]
MPs are much less local than they would have us believe
It is common for parliamentary candidates to stress their local roots in order to win over voters. In the current Parliament, however, only around half of MPs were born in the region they represent, let alone their constituency. Democratic Audit’s Richard Berry has examined new data on MPs’ geographical origins. In the first of a […]
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