Category Archives: Electoral reform

Farage accused of betraying pensioners after triple lock hint in speech Tories say was rambling and incoherent – UK politics live

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Reform leader refuses to commit to keeping mechanism that guarantees how pensions are increased

Farage is speaking now. He says another “depressing budget hoves into view”. It will be a budget that “doesn’t have the guts to cut public spending”.

He says Britain has been living under an illusion.

I think for some years we’ve actually been living under an illusion. We’ve not been prepared to face up to just how much of an economic mess we genuinely in.

As we slipped down the global league tables, we kid ourselves that it’s OK, we’ve got GDP growth.

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Voting age to be lowered to 16 in UK by next general election

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16- and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in all elections as part of changes including easier voter registration and crackdown on foreign interference

The voting age will be lowered to 16 in the UK by the next general election in a major change of the democratic system.

The government said it was a reform to bring in more fairness for 16- and 17-year-olds, many of whom already work and are able to serve in the military. It brings the whole of the UK voting age to 16. Scotland and Wales have already made the change for Holyrood and Senedd elections, as well as local council elections.

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MPs to tighten laws allowing foreign donations to influence UK elections

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Exclusive: changes will end illegitimate funding via shell firms and subject donors to enhanced tests, backed by stronger fines

Ministers are planning to close loopholes that could allow foreign money to influence UK elections, with a crackdown on illegitimate donations through shell companies and new tests on political donors.

As part of a push to tighten up electoral law, the government will on Thursday announce a series of measures to ensure donations come from allowable UK sources.

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Starmer ‘completely rejects’ suggestion he echoed Enoch Powell in immigration speech, No 10 says – as it happened

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This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has just started taking questions in the Commons. In response to the first question, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, said the UK has joined calls for an urgent meeting of the UN security council this afternoon to discuss the situation in Gaza.

After Foreign Office questions, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, is asking an urgent question about the Mansion House accord – a deal with pension companies intended to get them to invest more in UK firms.

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Britain has one of most difficult voter registration processes, report finds

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UK system makes it a ‘real outlier’ among liberal democracies, according to study examining 62 countries

The UK has one of the most difficult voter registration processes among liberal democracies, according to research that examined 62 countries.

Requirements to actively register to vote, meet strict deadlines before polling day and cast a ballot at specific polling stations make the UK a “real outlier internationally”, academics at the University of Manchester found.

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Automatic voter registration may be an answer to UK’s troubling turnout gap

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Experts say evidence from abroad shows AVR is effective – and it’s one of several proposals to try to boost voting

A healthy democracy depends on people participating in it. In the UK, the proportion of people doing so is falling. Voter turnout in general elections stayed above 70% from 1945 through to 1997, hitting more than 80% in 1950 and 1951. But it collapsed to 59.4% when Tony Blair won his second term in 2001, and though it rose again between 2010 and 2019, it has not reached the 70% mark since 1997. In the 2024 election, turnout fell to 59.7%.

The decline has been acute enough to trigger concern among Labour officials. Before July, the Guardian revealed they were drawing up plans to introduce automatic voter registration (AVR). In the election, when it came around, just 52% of adults living in the UK exercised their right to vote – the lowest proportion since universal suffrage was introduced. Crucially, this statistic counts all adults eligible to vote in the UK, not just those registered on the electoral roll.

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Turnout inequality in UK elections close to tipping point, report warns

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IPPR says elections could lose legitimacy because of falling turnout among groups such as renters and non-graduates

UK elections are “close to a tipping point” where they lose legitimacy because of plummeting voter turnout among renters and non-graduates, an influential thinktank has said.

Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the gap in turnout between those with and without university degrees grew to 11 percentage points in the 2024 general election – double that of 2019.

Lowering the voting age to 16.

Implementing automatic voter registration.

Introducing a £100,000 annual cap on donations to political parties.

Creating an “election day service”.

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MPs back PR bill in vote, a symbolic win for electoral reform campaigners – UK politics live

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MPs vote to give leave to bring in private members’ bill on PR but it will have no practical effect

Lord Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary and former Nato secretary who is leading the government’s strategic defence review, is giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. He has told MPs that the Americans are being fully consulted about the review. This is from Shashank Joshi, the Economist’s defence editor.

Listening to George Robertson & Richard Barrons, who are writing the UK’s defence review alongside Fiona Hill, giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. They’re in “constant contact” with allies, Robertson says, and have a US officer on the review team.

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MPs back proportional representation system for UK elections in symbolic vote

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Lib Dem proposal is passed by 137 votes to 135 with some Labour backbench support but is unlikely to become law

MPs have voted narrowly in favour of introducing a proportional representation electoral system, in a move that will almost certainly not change the law but is nonetheless a symbolically significant moment for UK politics.

The vote on a Liberal Democrat bill calling for a PR system for UK parliamentary elections and for local elections in England was passed by 137 votes to 135. It is believed to be the first time the Westminster parliament has backed such a plan.

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Britons should be able to use wider range of ID to vote, says watchdog

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Changes proposed after as many as 750,000 people may have been excluded from 2024 election due to lack of documents

Ministers should expand the ID that people can use to vote, the elections watchdog has recommended, after a report found as many as 750,000 people might not have voted in the 2024 general election because they lacked the necessary documents.

The Electoral Commission said the government should also look at allowing people without ID to vote if someone who did have proof of identity was able to vouch for them at a polling station.

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‘Disproportionate’ UK election results boost calls to ditch first past the post

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Campaigners for electoral reform say outcome has renewed pressure for proportional representation

The push for electoral reform in the UK has received a shot in the arm after the “most disproportionate election in history”, according to campaigners and academics.

Longstanding reform campaigners have become uneasy bedfellows with Reform UK’s Nigel Farage in recent days after Labour secured a 174-seat majority with just 34% of the popular vote.

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Keir Starmer says Palestinian state is an ‘undeniable right’ as part of Gaza peace process – UK politics live

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Labour’s election manifesto committed party to recognising Palestinian state as part of a process that results in a two-state solution with Israel

Reynolds says he is not supposed to pre-empt what will be in the king’s speech, but he says it is no secret that the government is going to prioritise its employment rights reforms.

Jonathan Reynolds is being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg now.

I do want things in exchange for money we’ll co-invest with the private sector around jobs and technology.

I think that’s a reasonable way to make sure public money is being well spent and I believe there are things, capacities, the steel industry needs in future that could be part of that conversation and that’s what I’ll be having in the next few days …

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Caroline Lucas: Labour must pursue social justice while tackling climate crisis

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Outgoing Green MP calls for combined strategy to ensure net zero will not be done ‘on the backs of the poor’

Labour must combine tackling the climate crisis with pursuing social justice, if elected, to show that achieving net zero will not be done “on the backs of the poor”, the UK’s outgoing Green party MP has warned.

Caroline Lucas, who has held the seat of Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said: “The biggest priority is to demonstrate that is not the case. We have to make sure that this is a strategy and a policy that is the opposite of being done on the backs of the poor.”

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What constituency am I in?: new boundary map for UK general election – and how changes may affect you

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Boundary changes mean the 2024 British general election will be fought in altered seats. Enter your postcode to see a map of your constituency and how these seats would have voted in 2019

The general election on 4 July will be fought across 650 new constituencies after boundary changes were approved by parliament.

With only 77 constituencies remaining unchanged, the boundary review changes which seat many people will be voting in. Not only does it mean that seats may have a new name, but geographical changes to seat boundaries many also mean that historical knowledge of voting patterns may be irrelevant, having implications for those hoping to vote tactically.

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Minister ‘sorry’ as veterans find ID card not valid for English elections

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Johnny Mercer says he will ‘do all I can’ to change rules after veteran turned away from polling station

The veterans minister has apologised to former military personnel who have been prevented from using their veterans ID in order to vote in the local elections in England on Thursday.

Downing Street said it would “look into” changing the controversial new rules, which require photo ID in order to vote, to allow veterans’ ID cards on to the list of valid identification.

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UK general election: find your new constituency – and see how it would have voted in 2019

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Boundary changes mean the 2024 British general election will be fought in altered seats. Enter your postcode to see a map of your constituency and how these seats would have voted in 2019

The next general election in the UK will be fought across 650 new constituencies after boundary changes were approved by parliament.

While no election has taken place along these boundaries yet, research by psephologists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, academics at the University of Plymouth, has estimated how, based on 2019 results, these new seats would have notionally voted in that election.

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Britons living abroad regain right to vote in UK elections as 15-year rule ends

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Change to franchise brings UK in line with other major democracies which allow lifelong voting rights

An estimated 3 million Britons living abroad for more than 15 years will regain their right to vote in all elections in the UK from Tuesday, ending 20 years of broken promises by successive UK governments.

The end of the so-called 15-year rule means millions more could be enfranchised in time for the next general election, the date of which has yet to be decided by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

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New Zealand: bill to allow under-18s to vote in local elections passes first hurdle

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Bill that would also allow 16- and 17-year-olds to stand as candidates passed its first reading in parliament

A bill that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote and stand as candidates in New Zealand’s local elections has passed its first reading in parliament, nine months after a landmark ruling by the country’s supreme court that the existing age of 18 was inconsistent with human rights law.

The measure passed its first hurdle on Tuesday by 74 votes to 44, supported by all leftwing lawmakers, with the rightwing opposition parties rejecting it. However, the proposal could face a steep uphill battle to pass its final legislative hurdles, and it would not extend voting rights to under-18s in national elections as urged by the young campaigners who brought the supreme court case.

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Time running out for UK electoral system to keep up with AI, say regulators

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Watchdog calls for campaigners to behave responsibly amid fears over potential misuse of generative AI

Time is running out to enact wholesale changes to ensure Britain’s electoral system keeps pace with advances in artificial intelligence before the next general election, regulators fear.

New laws will not come in time for the election, which will take place no later than January 2025, and the watchdog that regulates election finance and sets standards for how elections should be run is appealing to campaigners and political parties to behave responsibly.

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Major Tory donor investigated over fraud and money laundering allegations

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Indian rice tycoon Karan Chanana, who gave the Conservatives more than £220,000, is under scrutiny by India’s finance ministry

A leading Tory donor who has given more than £220,000 to the party is being investigated over allegations of fraud and money laundering.

Karan Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated in India over claims that tens of millions of pounds of bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities. Chanana has not responded to the claims.

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