Extending human and civic rights
Is political representation in Britain becoming more diverse?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have a statutory duty to regularly report on the state of human rights and equality in the UK. Based on the Commission’s latest review, ‘Is Britain Fairer?’, Janna Miletzki and Hazel Wardrop write that while formal political representation is more diverse than in 2010, the findings for informal participation are […]
The Women’s Equality Party will struggle to win seats, but it can push women’s issues up the political agenda
The Women’s Equality Party was founded earlier this year with the aim of promoting gender equality for the benefit of all. But what are its long term political prospects, and what hopes does it have of influencing those parties more likely to hold office? Kimberley Cowell-Meyers argues that while it may struggle to make an impact […]
Theresa May’s announcement of new community sponsorship schemes was the silver lining of her conference speech
Theresa May’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, which focussed largely on immigration and its supposed negative societal and economic effects proved to be controversial, finding criticism even amongst conservative supporting newspapers and members of her own party. Marley Morris however found some promise in the ideas she presented around community sponsorship. Similar PostsTheresa May […]
Prisoner voting rights are another intractable struggle over Europe’s architecture for protecting human rights
Last week, an appeal by a French prisoner to the EU’s top court against his voting ban revived the debate about prisoner voting rights in the UK. Colin Murray writes that although the appeal was unsuccessful, the ruling did not foreclose the possibility of future successful challenges to bans on prisoner voting. He suggests that it is highly likely […]
Theresa May has fundamentally misjudged the public mood on immigration
In Theresa May’s Conservative party conference speech she warned that high levels of immigration make it ‘impossible to build a cohesive society’ as it is ‘difficult for schools and hospitals and core infrastructure like housing and transport to cope’. Instead of framing migration as a threat to Britain’s cohesion, the Government should be proactive and […]
The Northern Ireland Secretary’s suggestion that Stormont’s impasse could be solved by the return of London rule is dangerous and wrong
Northern Ireland’s politics are in the midst of a crisis fuelled by the UK government’s austerity programme, and continued tensions over the presence of paramilitary forces linked to Sinn Fein. The Conservative Government’s Theresa Villiers has suggested that the reimposition of direct rule from Westminster could be a way out of the impasse. Sean Swan […]
If Eurosceptic parties continue to prosper European elections could hinder further European integration
Turnout in European Parliament (EP) elections once again decreased in 2014. This observation seems worrying for many scholars and practitioners regarding the EU’s democratic legitimacy. However, by analysing the characteristics and motivations of European non-voters using EU-wide post-electoral survey data, Constantin Schäfer argues that a higher turnout in European elections might not necessarily lead to more […]
Gaining access to CCTV images is far more difficult than the legislation suggests it ought to be
Under the 1998 Data Protection Act, citizens have the right to access CCTV images of themselves. One researcher, Keith Spiller, sought to test out how easy it actually is to gain access to the footage, and sought to deliberately stand in site of CCTV cameras for two minutes at a time. He found it far […]
Connecting discontent with austerity and support for migrants
To what extent has there been a shift in attitudes toward asylum seekers in the UK during the refugee crisis? Bridget Anderson writes that in the wave of support for welcoming refugees there has been a surprising silence about the situation of asylum seekers already in the UK. She argues that if we are to […]
Why the EU should consider decriminalising people smuggling
EU member states agreed on 14 September to strengthen actions against people smugglers in the Mediterranean as part of their response to the ongoing migration crisis. Mollie Gerver writes that instead of scaling up actions against smugglers, a better option may be to decriminalise the practice. She argues that criminal sanctions against people smuggling are counter-productive […]
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