Category Archives: Electoral reform

Lead campaigner in People’s Vote group quits as director

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Exclusive: Roland Rudd, pro-EU group’s former chair, resigns along with director Richard Reed

Roland Rudd, one of the leading campaigners in the fight to keep Britain tied closely to the EU, has stepped down as a director of the company behind the People’s Vote group.

In a move one insider said marked as a “sorry end” to the slow decline of the movement forged during the fierce battle over Brexit, Rudd and another director, Richard Reed, resigned and handed over the reins of PV Campaign Ltd to Mark Kieran.

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More than 2m voters may lack photo ID required under new UK bill

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Critics warn older, disabled and homeless people risk being unfairly denied democratic say

More than 2 million UK voters could lack the necessary ID to take part in future elections, according to a government analysis of its flagship bill on voting rights, spurring warnings that “decades of democratic progress” risk going into reverse.

The plan for mandatory photo ID at elections – a central element of Tuesday’s Queen’s speech – risks disproportionately hitting older, disabled and homeless voters who are less likely to have such documents, critics said. US civil rights groups have warned it amounts to Republican-style voter suppression.

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Clive Lewis: Labour must push for proportional representation

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Leadership hopeful stresses need for radical change, saying party must act ‘or it will die’

Labour must embrace proportional representation and learn to work with other parties among other radical changes, the leadership contender Clive Lewis has said, adding that the party “needs to modernise, or it will die”.

In a speech formally launching his campaign, the Norwich South MP said Labour needed to become less centralised and more collaborative, warning that debate was being stifled by “sectarianism and tribalism”.

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Tories aim to distract from Brexit with crime-focused Queen’s speech

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Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour voters

Violent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.

With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills.

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Met to take no further action over Leave.EU spending breaches

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Police say Brexit campaign broke law but claim insufficient evidence to continue

The Metropolitan police have announced they will take no further action against the Leave.EU campaign for spending offences in the Brexit referendum, despite accepting that it broke the law.

In a statement released on Friday, the Met concluded there was insufficient evidence to justify further investigation of the group, which was set up by the insurance businessman Arron Banks.

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