Parliament
The unreformed House of Lords is already the largest parliamentary chamber of any democracy
The appointment of 30 new peers to our unreformed House of Lords was announced this week. In the 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone discussed the composition and role of the upper chamber. They highlighted how the UK is almost unique among established democracies in possessing a parliamentary chamber that is mainly unelected, and set […]
The UK could take some lessons from Australia on fixed terms for party leaders so that election winners are guaranteed a full term in office
The Australian Labor Party has approved proposals from the party’s new leader Kevin Rudd, that the party’s leadership selection rules be changed so that parliamentarians and party members are able to elect party leaders. Anika Gauja writes that the UK’s political parties could consider another aspect of the reforms that ensure party leaders cannot be […]
The Lobbying Bill is a missed opportunity
In response to recent lobbying scandals, the government has introduced the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, which had its first reading in Parliament earlier this month. The Bill seeks to introduce a register of consultant lobbyists and deals with issues relating to election finance. Robert Barrington, Executive Director of Transparency […]
MPs with slim majorities and frontbenchers are the most prolific parliamentary tweeters
A clear majority of Members of Parliament are now on Twitter, with over 400 MPs tweeting. James Donald has studied this phenomenon, with research into which MPs tend to be on Twitter – considering age, party membership, electoral majorities and other factors – and what exactly they are using it for. In this post he […]
The Government’s proposal for an ‘English only’ stage in the House of Commons could create problems
The Coalition Government has proposed a new measure to counteract some of the asymmetries brought about by devolution, which could see English MPs enjoying what amounts to a ‘Fourth Reading Veto’. Andrew Blick argues that this measure, if successful, could fundamentally change the way the House of Commons deals with legislation, and makes the case […]
Take a closer look at the House of Lords: it may not be quite what you think
The 1999 reforms to the House of Lords introduced by Labour in government have given the House of Lords a new-found sense of confidence and legitimacy, with the upper chamber now impossible to ignore for anybody seeking to under British politics. But while these changes mean that the chamber has increased its relevance and importance, […]
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 […]
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 […]
The constitutional mess that now undoubtedly exists demands urgent review and reform
Matthew Flinders finds that it is not that people don’t care about British politics and its constitutional arrangements but that they simply don’t understand where power lies or why.This has resulted from reforms having been implemented in a manner that is bereft of any underlying logic. There is an urgent need to look across the constitutional landscape in order […]
“Arrogant Posh Boys?” The Social Composition of the Parliamentary Conservative Party
Since assuming the leadership of the Conservatives, David Cameron and his inner circle have been dogged by questions about their priviliged background. This has only served to intensify broader issues which the Conservative party has long been seen to suffer with in matters of diversity and equality. It was to address these issues that Cameron introduced […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.