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Dear Friend,

With the announcement of Liz Truss's resignation honours and our new report on the House of Lords, Unfinished Business: Routes to an Elected Second Chamber, this week's round-up is very House of Lords heavy!

As we enter what is set to be an election year, we'll be turning our focus back to the House of Commons. Already, parties are planning which voters to court and which to ignore, as seen in lists of 'Non-Battleground' seats - find out more in our article, listed below.

All the best,
The Electoral Reform Society team

Liz Truss appointed one peer for every 1.5 days she served as Prime Minister

The UK’s shortest serving PM hands out peerages to friends and supporters

In the days between Christmas and New Year, the government tried to quietly slip out some bad news – it hoped many people would be too distracted by remnant cheeseboards and left-over Turkey to notice Liz Truss’s resignation honours list.

Read the article →

The benefits of proportional representation for a reformed House of Lords are clear

Which is the best electoral system for the House of Lords?

Whenever the issue of creating an elected Second Chamber comes up, a common question is how it should be elected. Thankfully, one of the areas of agreement on Lords reform over the years has been on the issue of which electoral system.

Read the article →

Around 400 seats will see very little if any local campaigning from either of the two major UK parties

The Non-Battleground Election: Millions of voters are ignored

The Labour Party has started the process of selecting their general election candidates for 211 ‘non-battleground’ constituencies in England.

Read the article →

At over 800 peers in total it dwarfs all other second chambers around the world

How many peers are there in the House of Lords – and how many does it need?

One of the unique features of our currently second chamber, apart from it being unelected and still partially based on inherited titles, is that its membership is huge.

Read the article →

Coverage we've won

Liz Truss's resignation honours were a great opportunity to get our arguments, and research, for an elected second chamber in the press. Our Head of Research Dr Jess Garland appeared on both BBC Breakfast and Channel 4 News to make the case for an elected House of Lords. Our arguments for an elected House were also covered by BBC News and The Observer.

Our issues in the news

Mirror - Rishi Sunak must allow civil service to plan for Labour government under Keir Starmer
The Guardian - ‘Perilous and chaotic’: why officials are nervy before a likely UK election in 2024
The House - Five ways to fix British politics
The Times - If you want to save democracy, get involved
The House - Baroness Smith: 'We should be honest about what we can achieve on Lords reform'
Byline Times - Government Accused of “Destroying” Independence of UK’s Election Watchdog as New “Priorities” Imposed on Electoral Commission

In the news, and a safe seat

Former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has left his new party Reclaim. Here's how his seat of Leicestershire North West voted in 2019.

Leicestershire North West

525th Smallest Margin of Victory
535th Smallest Share of the Vote Needed to Win

Explore the 2019 General Election in Leicestershire North West →

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