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Tag Archives: unlock democracy

Up to 750,000 people disenfranchised in General Election

By Mary Reid | Thu 19th September 2024 - 3:36 pm

The Electoral Commission report on Voter ID in the General Election found that 16,000 would-be voters were turned away by polling officers because they did not have approved ID. But the picture is much worse than that, because many people simply did not turn up at the polling station because of the ID rules, or were stopped by the greeter and never returned. In fact, the Electoral Commission reckons that 750,000 people might not have voted in the General Election because of the need for Voter ID.

The report also found that while most people were aware of the requirement for Voter ID, 29% of people aged 18- 24 did not know about it and 24% of people from ethnic minority communities were unaware. In general, the impact was felt greatest by those two groups plus voters in social grade C2DE.

This is a topic I have written about before. On the day after the local elections in 2023, when Voter ID was first introduced, I asked: “Voter ID – did it prevent electoral fraud or did it interfere with voters’ rights?“. The answer came the following month with another report from the Electoral Commission: “14,000 voters turned away – but probably many more“. Then a month later a letter appeared in the press from eminent ethnic minority actors and artists, calling for the abolition of Voter ID because of its disproportionate impact on people of colour: “Actors and artists back the abolition of Voter ID“.

There are two possible responses to the latest findings. Either increase the types of acceptable photographic ID or abolish Voter ID altogether.

The Electoral Commission recommends that “The UK Government should undertake and publish a review of the current list of accepted forms of ID, to identify any additional documents that could be included to improve accessibility for voters.” At the moment travel passes for older people are acceptable but bizarrely those for young people are not. They also suggest that any voter who does not have a acceptable form of ID should be able to take a registered voter with them to the polling station to attest for them.

The other option – embraced by the Lib Dems, is to abolish Voter ID altogether. Its original purpose was to stop impersonation – when someone fraudulently claims to be someone else and steals their vote. This is a crime, of course, but one that seems to happen extremely rarely. Between 2019 and 2023 only 11 people were convicted of it.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged 2024 general election, electoral commission, featured and voter ID | 7 Comments

A step change in the fight for PR

By Shaun Roberts | Thu 12th September 2024 - 6:16 pm

The 2024 General Election was the most disproportionate in our history.

Or to put it another way, people didn’t get what they voted for, not even close!

As a result, for a few weeks at least, electoral reform became a real talking point in the media and amongst the public. The door that leads to Proportional Representation, which has been locked shut for more than a decade, is slightly ajar.

That’s something the Liberal Democrats, who have been campaigning for PR longer than anyone, need to exploit. With a record number of MPs, there are more Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians than ever to push the case for PR forward in this Parliament.

Even better, there are more allies in this battle than ever before. Research conducted by democracy organisations shows that more than 250 MPs in the House of Commons have indicated support for PR for Westminster elections. Fewer than 150 MPs have declared their opposition.

There has never been a Parliament like this one when it comes to support for PR.

Furthermore, support for PR from political parties has never been higher. The Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Reform back PR. Within the Labour Party, both the trade unions and party members have strongly supported PR for Westminster elections. There have even been rumblings about growing support for PR in the Conservative Party after their record defeat in July.

And crucially, every public opinion poll shows clear support for electoral reform, with the same polls confirming that trust in politics has never been lower.

The respected British Social Attitudes survey showed in its most recent report that support for changing the voting system had never been so high, nor trust in government to put country before party so low.

All the ingredients for change are there, but for one very important thing.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged proportional representation | 9 Comments

Politics should be about the people – it’s crucial we secure democratic reform

By Tom Brake and Klina Jordan and Neal Lawson | Thu 21st September 2023 - 10:42 am

While Labour strategists will tell you that nothing can be taken for granted, the bulk of the media and much of the rest of the Westminster bubble has already declared Labour the winner of the next general election.

With still probably one year to go before the voters get a look in, it is striking how much the opposition is able to set the political agenda. Journalists remark on the sense in which the opposition now seems to be making the political weather, as if this happens entirely independently. To paraphrase Boris Johnson, ‘the herd has moved’.

Cheered on by wealthy donors, the two big parties will spend the next year battling it out over a tiny slither of the electorate, quickening the pace of democratic disenchantment. Yet behind closed doors, much of the (so-called mainstream) media herd has already staged its own private coronation of Sir Keir Starmer and is now engaged in jockeying for access to the party they are sure will form the next government.

And, on one level, you might think ‘fair enough’. But obscured by the media’s ‘laser-like focus’ on electoral conjecture are the voters. Politicians work for us, and yet somehow, too often, our interests are mediated through the presumed winners and losers of an imagined election.

The Mid Bedfordshire by-election is the same story in microcosm. All the focus is on the horse race, on which challenger has a better claim to the seat. Sidelined are the feelings of voters about the first genuinely competitive election in their constituency for a generation – one in which all voters can be confident their vote will make a difference to the outcome.

Opinion polling and surveys can help us fill in some of the gaps: we know that people feel as if politicians are all the same, that their vote doesn’t change anything. We know how, when presented with the option of an electoral system in which all votes count, or a House of Lords that is accountable, people are eager for change. And we know how repelled most residents of Mid Beds were by the contempt shown to them by Nadine Dorries. This is replicated across the country.

But if we are serious about doing something to address the sorry state of our democracy, the challenge is clear: how to work together to ensure the voices of the people do not get drowned out between now and the next election.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged 2023 autumn conference, compass, liberal democrats for electoral reform and make votes matter | 3 Comments

Virtual rally for electoral reform this Tuesday

By The Voice | Sun 16th April 2023 - 2:55 pm

Before we start, we know that many of our readers will be way too busy to do anything other than campaigning on Tuesday or any other nights ahead of the local elections. We assume that this event will be recorded and if we see it online, we’ll post a link so that you can listen ~~at your leisure~~ while stuffing blue letters, responding to casework emails or doing data entry.

Anyway, you may be aware that a load of pro electoral reform organisations, co-ordinated by Make Votes Matter, are running a mass lobby of Parliament to call for proportional representation on 24 May. You can find out more about the Sort the System event here.

This Tuesday at 6:30 pm, there is a virtual rally with speakers including our own Layla Moran and Unlock Democracy’s director, former Lib Dem MP Tom Brake. You can sign up to attend here.

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Posted in News | Also tagged electoral reform | Leave a comment

Gavin Esler and Dominic Grieve at Unlock Democracy AGM

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 19th November 2022 - 2:30 pm

Unlock Democracy is an organisation which has many of the same aims on reforming our political system as we do. In fact there are some familiar faces in high positions in the organisation. Tom Brake, former Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, is their Chief Executive and our former Director of Campaigns Shaun Roberts, is their Head of Campaigns and Digital.

Today they held their AGM which was opened with a session on the dire state of our democracy and the future of Britain with former Conservative MP Dominic Grieve and former BBC journalist Gavin Esler. IF you take nothing else away from this article, remember this from Dominic Grieve:

Lib Dems were an important moderating factor during the coalition. Civil servants were saying that this was the first time in years there had been evidence based decision making.

In his opening remarks, Dominic Grieve concentrated on how we had got to the mess we are in, saying that the fundamental irrationality of current state of politics is depressing.

In his day, he said, the Conservatives used to anchor on principles of rationality but have abandoned that over the past 6 years, leading to Liz Truss fantasy economics.

He looked back over the past three decades and argued that when things have gone wrong it’s when politicians have done things which in hindsight look irrational

Thatcher started to undermine our role in EU and opened door to brexiteers to persuade us to vote to leave – a massively irrational decision.

He said that the SNP’s commitment to independence is similarly irrational and will not deliver what they aim for.

Politicians, society, media engage in displacement activity rather than tackle the real issues. Neither Government nor opposition can properly articulate the underlying problems that need to be fixed, crucially around the mess of Brexit.

He now favours PR, but says that electoral reform needs a culture change. People accept that politics is about compromise and adjustment rather than delivering set out programmes

He concluded that the current situation is making us poorer, threatening our future and our ability to influence the world in a positive way

Gavin Esler broadly agreed with this analysis. He compared UK failure to face up to Brexit by using distraction to Trumpism.

He looked at how clearly incapable people thrived in our system How do you get to be Gavin Williamson, forced to resign by 3 Prime ministers in 4 years.

He quoted our Layla Moran, saying that Williamson was the 80th minister to resign or be sacked in 2022 and if this was a school it would be in special measures.

He argued for systemic change to stop the situation where in his home county of Kent it takes 33,000 votes to get a Conservative MP, and 250,000 to get a Labour one.

They were asked how to bring about change.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged dominic grieve, gavin esler and political reform | 4 Comments

Tom Brake writes: The route to Proportional Representation

By Tom Brake | Sun 27th February 2022 - 9:55 am

Proportional Representation is in the Liberal Democrats’ DNA.

It might not always, or indeed ever (the party’s historians will correct me if I am wrong) have featured on the front page of the Lib Dem manifesto. But it has always been a main plank of the party’s package of modernising democratic reforms.

If this were ever in doubt, Alistair Carmichael MP, the party’s Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Political & Constitutional Reform nailed the party’s colours to the PR mast by adding a new clause to the Elections Bill on the 17th January. He was supported by MPs from 3 other political parties.

Its purpose: to abolish First Past The Post for UK general elections and require the Government to take all reasonable steps to introduce proportional representation. In his speech, Alistair made the case for PR declaring, ‘we must have a system that gets rid of safe seats so that everybody’s vote, no matter where they live, is of equal value.’

Unfortunately, House of Commons’ support for PR wasn’t tested. The FPTP system guarantees that voters who support parties like the Lib Dems never secure fair representation in Parliament. This in turn deprives Lib Dem MPs of the parliamentary numbers that would require the Speaker to grant them frequent voting opportunities. So, no vote was granted or held on the PR amendment.

In contrast, at the last Labour conference, a vote was held on the subject of PR.

This followed a concerted and well-organised campaign by Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) with around 150 constituency labour parties submitting PR motions.

The PR motion debated at their conference had the overwhelming support of local party delegates. 80% supported the call for reform. However, the motion was narrowly defeated after block votes cast by a number of the trade unions.

The campaign continues, with a renewed focus on the trade union movement. L4ND is confident of securing sufficient union support to win any future vote at the Labour conference on PR.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged electoral reform, featured, proportional representation and tom brake | 7 Comments

Tom Brake, former Member of Parliament, appointed as Director of Unlock Democracy

By Tahir Maher | Wed 7th October 2020 - 12:00 pm

PRESS RELEASE:

Unlock Democracy is pleased to announce Tom Brake as their new Director. Tom was until recently the MP for Carshalton and Wallington.

Tom brings a wealth of campaigning experience to the role from his years in Parliament. In Westminster he was active in pushing for democratic reform, including extending Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to private companies like Serco and Capita when they undertake work for the public sector, defending UK elections from foreign interference, and for votes at 16.

Tom leads the organisation at a time when the UK’s democracy and political institutions are under strain from: the pressure of responding to Covid-19, which has seen the Government given civil liberties-threatening emergency powers; an attempt by Government to shut down Parliament; and ID checks which will stop some younger people and people from disadvantaged backgrounds voting.

Speaking on behalf of Unlock Democracy’s governing Council, Chair Jessica Metheringham, said:

“I am delighted to welcome Tom to Unlock Democracy. At this critical time for democracy, our challenge is to bring together people from different backgrounds and perspectives. Together we can counter the threats to our democracy and build a better foundation for our political system. Tom brings experience and enthusiasm and I am looking forward to working with him.”

Tom Brake added:

“It is a great honour to be appointed Director of an organisation with a strong campaign pedigree and an experienced and committed team.

“The risks are genuine. The freedoms people cherish in their day-to-day lives depend on a strong and vibrant democracy. Unlock Democracy’s mission is to deliver a written constitution, drafted following an open and engaging public process. This is the best guarantee that the freedoms we enjoy now will continue to be exercised by our children and grandchildren.”

Unlock Democracy is a pressure group that campaigns for a vibrant, inclusive democracy that puts power in the hands of the people, underpinned by a written constitution created through a participative process.

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Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged tom brake | 3 Comments

Opinion: Why the Liberal Democrats must put reform first

By Junade Ali | Wed 10th December 2014 - 11:15 am

#495538749 / gettyimages.com

It was rather warm for February 17th. I was lost looking around the many exits of St James’ Park tube station. I was after Dr. Ken Ritchie, the former CEO of the Electoral Reform Society. Graham Smith, the CEO of Republic had given him my details originally to help The Reform Foundation (which he chairs) get a website. This escalated quickly when a few weeks later I found myself voted in as a trustee during a meeting of the other trustees.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged constitutional reform | 31 Comments

The Independent View: Transparency in Government

By Alexandra Runswick | Tue 14th January 2014 - 9:00 am

This week the Liberal Democrats face a test of their commitment to transparency in government when the House of Lords considers Part 1 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill. Bizarrely for a Bill with transparency in the title, it will provide the public with less information than we already have under the discredited system of self-regulation.

Last week the BMJ published details of the way the drinks industry had lobbied government to drop the commitment to minimum alcohol pricing including 130 meetings, few of which were in the public domain. This is not about …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged lobbying and transparency bill | 9 Comments

The Independent View: It’s not alarmist to raise concerns about government plans for non-party campaigning

By Alexandra Runswick | Thu 29th August 2013 - 2:27 pm

The government ministers leading on the transparency of lobbying, non-party campaigning and trade union administration bill need to make their minds up. Last week, the newspapers were briefed that the government was “open to changes” to the bill following severe criticism from senior charities. This week, Tom Brake and Chloe Smith are lining up to attack 38 Degrees for “scaremongering” over the bill. So what is the truth?

Unlock Democracy has campaigned for several years now for the introduction of a statutory lobbying register and so has taken a keen interest in this bill. Our

…

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged lobbying and tom brake | 11 Comments

Registers and recall: I support them both. But they’re not going to clean up our democracy

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th June 2013 - 7:25 pm

The weekend’s revelations that two Labour peers and an Ulster Unionist were filmed offering to lobby ministers for cash, following hot on the heels of Tory MP Patrick Mercer’s resignation of the Tory whip over similar allegations, has re-ignited the question of how to clean up Parliament.

Two proposals are being pushed, both of them originally pledged in the Coalition Agreement.

Register of lobbyists

First, there’s a register of lobbyists, intended to bring greater transparency to the way in which professional lobbyists seek to influence government decisions. This is one of Unlock Democracy’s top campaigns:

If we don’t know

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged alliance for lobbying transparency, david cameron, douglas carswell, john rentoul, nick clegg, parliamentary reform, register of lobbyists, right of recall and zac goldsmith | 12 Comments

Giving power to local communities – much too important to be left to Nick Clegg or Parliament

By Stephen Tall | Mon 29th October 2012 - 8:20 pm

Like my LDV colleague, Paul Walter, it was good to hear Nick Clegg’s announcement that he intends to give more economic powers to up to 20 cities and major towns. After all, if there’s one thing that unites Lib Dems it’s the belief in devolving power to the most local level possible.

And yet there is a grumble about the scheme that nags me: why is it that local government is having to bid to central government for “the right to decide how skills and transport funding is spent

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Posted in News | Also tagged local works, nick clegg and sustainable communities bill | 5 Comments

Are you a member of Unlock Democracy? Please help improve it

By Mark Pack | Fri 12th October 2012 - 1:25 pm

In the spring and summer I blogged about how underwhelmed I was by the exceptionally tight campaigning restrictions for Unlock Democracy’s internal elections which blocked contact between candidates and voters (the irony given the organisation’s name!), leaving just a fairly uninformative booklet to guide my votes:

Now having the ballot mailing for the council and for the related limited company in front of me, things are even worse. Why? Because I’m left with almost no decent information on which to decide how to cast my vote. Sure, I’ve got a

…

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

“14 out of 15 trades unions fail the transparency test”

By Nick T | Thu 4th October 2012 - 2:55 pm

News reaches the Voice from Unlock Democracy, who have been carrying out investigations into the practices of the 15 unions currently affiliated to the Labour party. The research shows that 14 out of 15 trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party fail to explain to their prospective new members about affiliation and inform them that they have a legal right to opt out on their membership forms and website.

The top lines from the research are as follows:

Just 1 union (UNISON) mentions affiliating to the Labour Party.

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Posted in News | Also tagged party funding and trade unions | 8 Comments

Lords reform, Labour and the three key tests

By Mark Pack | Thu 28th June 2012 - 9:25 am

Ed Miliband’s decision to insist on Labour backing House of Lords reform at the Second Reading vote in the House of Commons is an important and welcome one. That it was opposed by senior Labour figures such as David Blunkett probably reinforces the views of many Liberal Democrats of Blunkett and co, but it should also remind us that Miliband’s decision and leadership on this is not trivial. It is something House of Lords reformers in all parties should welcome.

More cynical people may wonder if Labour support on the Second Reading will be a distraction tactic from them trying to sink Lords reform at a later date, whether with or without Miliband’s implicit backing. There are three main opportunities for that.

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Posted in News | Also tagged constitutional reform, david blunkett, ed miliband, house of lords and lords reform | 14 Comments

Unlock Democracy: the elections are worse than I feared

By Mark Pack | Wed 6th June 2012 - 11:50 am

Back in March I wrote about my concerns over the elections rules for Unlock Democracy’s internal elections:

Good news – supporters are being asked to submit nominations for its governing council. Bad news – the highly restrictive campaigning rules that make even the old Liberal Democrat internal election rules seem rather generous:

“Candidates may not produce any further promotional materials … No candidate may pro-actively campaign for election online, or allow anyone else to campaign on their behalf … The Returning Officer may disqualify any candidate who they deem to have made a public statement to promote their candidacy.”

As for

…

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Posted in Op-eds | 10 Comments

Lords Reform – if evidence were needed…

By NewsHound | Tue 24th April 2012 - 11:52 am

Yesterday, Unlock Democracy published new research confirming that a majority of the public support government plans to introduce elections to the House of Lords. A poll conducted by YouGov has found that:

69% support a half, majority or wholly elected second chamber. The most popular response was for a fully elected second chamber (33%). Just 5% support a wholly appointed second chamber (don’t know: 22%).

45% believe members of the House of Lords should not be allowed to block reform; 32% felt they should (don’t know: 17%).

48% supported experts being invited to participate in legislation on an ad hoc basis, rather

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged house of lords | 5 Comments

A lack of democracy at Unlock Democracy

By Mark Pack | Thu 29th March 2012 - 10:50 am

The pressure group Unlock Democracy is generally pretty good at understanding that having a healthy democracy is more than simply about the narrow confines of casting and counting votes. Healthy democracy involves meaningful debate and choice between a range of views.

That makes the latest mailing I have received from them all the most disappointing. Good news – supporters are being asked to submit nominations for its governing council. Bad news – the highly restrictive campaigning rules that make even the old Liberal Democrat internal election rules seem rather …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged mark valladares | 7 Comments

What part of Yes do you not understand?

By James Graham | Tue 6th December 2011 - 9:54 am

We don’t normally republish lengthy pieces from other people’s blogs, but in the case of James Graham’s review of Don’t Take No For An Answer by Lewis Baston and Ken Ritchie, which doubles up as a detailed post-mortem on the AV referendum, we’re happy to throw those rules out of the window because of both the post’s excellence and the importance of the issues to future campaigning and hopes for electoral reform.

So here is a slightly revised version of the post which first appeared on James’s blog. You can also read Mark Pack’s (much shorter!) review of Don’t …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged av referendum, electoral reform, electoral reform society, featured, ken ritchie and lewis baston | 21 Comments

Have you taken part in the House of Lords reform consultation yet?

By Mark Pack | Fri 16th September 2011 - 8:55 am

Aside from the debate at Liberal Democrat conference on Lords reform, there’s another important opportunity to have your say on Lords reform at the moment. The official public consultation from the Joint Committee of the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill runs until 12 October and Unlock Democracy have put together a very simple to use website that steps you through responding to the consultation quickly and effectively.

So do make a visit to http://action.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/page/s/lords-reform-consultation and make sure your views go in before 12 October.

Posted in News | Also tagged constitutional reform, featured, house of lords, Joint Committee of the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill and lords reform | Leave a comment

Independent View: why we should all campaign for full recall

By Steve Shaw | Mon 27th June 2011 - 3:27 pm

For over six years now I have worked on Parliamentary campaigns such as the Sustainable Communities Act and the Climate Change Act. I have done this as an independent freelance, unaffiliated to any political party and always seeking cross party support.

This experience has given me a deep insight into our system of governance from the Ministers and senior civil servants at the top, whom I meet in Westminster and Whitehall, to communities at the bottom, whom I meet at campaign public meetings that I speak at across the country.

Our democratic system desperately needs reform. People increasingly feel disconnected …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged power inquiry, recall and reform | 19 Comments

Moving to an elected second chamber – a loss of expertise, or just privilege?

By Alex Runswick | Thu 22nd July 2010 - 4:15 pm

August 2011 is the centenary of the Parliament Act, the supposedly stop gap measure to regulate relations between the two houses of parliament until an elected House of Lords could be created. The fact that we are still fighting for a democratic second chamber means it is all too easy to lose sight of the debates about what we want the second chamber to actually do. Unlock Democracy wants a fully elected second chamber capable of scrutinising and revising legislation as well as delaying it where necessary. It should be a deliberative chamber that builds on the …

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Posted in Parliament | Also tagged guest editor, house of lords, parliament act and privilege | 9 Comments

Parties pledges for change under the microscope

By Mark Pack | Thu 22nd April 2010 - 5:20 pm

A news release tells us:

Unlock Democracy, the UK’s leading campaign for democracy, rights and freedoms, today unveils its new report which looks at how committed British political parties are to democratic reform.

The report, ‘A Vote for Democracy?‘ looks at the parties’ policies in five key areas: fair, free and honest elections; rights, freedoms and a written constitution; stronger parliament and accountable government; bringing power closer to the people and a culture of informed political interest and responsibility.

Allocating each party a score out of 100, the total scores are:
Liberal Democrats: 81
Green Party: 80.5
SNP: 57
Conservative Party: 48.5
Labour Party: 48
Plaid Cymru: 39.5
UK …

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Posted in News | Also tagged peter facey | Leave a comment

Unlock Democracy with VOTE MATCH

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 14th May 2009 - 8:20 pm

I was at the Vote Match European Election launch held at Apple’s palatial showroom on Regents Street this past Monday, drawn by the special guest appearance of Stephen Fry. Appearing in a tuxedo and bow tie, he did not disappoint as he opened with an apology for the rest of us being under-dressed for the event.

What I hadn’t expected was to discover that the collective consciousness of the 200 or so guests in the audience, on answering the 30 specimen questions by democratic show of hands, managed to produce a Liberal Democrat voter!

Following the success of Vote Match London …

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged european elections and votematch | 3 Comments