A New Year brings with it new supporters of electoral reform including business leaders and The Economist. Here are the top lines and stories from the UK, Parliament and trade unions. How our voting system affects jobs, pay, and investment Topping the list of things that trade unions tell us they want to talk about are ‘industrial issues’ such as …
Continue readingOur campaign for democratic reform is rising from the grassroots and reaching the people in power. Here are the top lines and stories from the UK, Parliament and trade unions. In the UK The latest YouGov poll, released on 28th October, shows the chaos that will be caused by retaining the First Past the Post system as voters continue the …
Continue readingWe have good news! Things are starting to move rapidly in the right direction for democratic reform. Here are the top lines on recent events in the UK, in Parliament and in trade unions. In the UK The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has published the latest findings from their British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. The survey has been conducted …
Continue readingMeeting NASUWT members in Liverpool It was a pleasure to take an exhibition stall to NASUWT conference in Liverpool earlier this year and launch our updated ‘Trade Union Case for Political Reform’ booklet. Just like MPs, support for electoral reform is growing amongst trade unionists and it was pretty non-stop on our stand. We had so many interesting conversations, answered …
Continue readingIt’s International Women’s Day again. A time of year that often leaves me reflecting on why we still need a special day each year to highlight the lack of equality in our society. It is 55 years since Barbara Castle, as Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, introduced the Equal Pay Act 1970. The catalyst for that legislation was …
Continue readingThe All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections launched with the backing of 100 cross-party MPs, including many on the Labour benches. You can see the full list of supporters here. In marketing terms these are the innovators and the disruptors, challenging the status quo, building and refining the arguments to make the case for a better democracy. The …
Continue readingOver 200 people joined us online to hear Guardian columnist Zoe Williams in conversation Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester to talk about where next for our democracy. Here are my five takeaways: Andy referred to analysis by Sir John Curtice that said trust in politicians is at its lowest and as a result people are now looking at proportional …
Continue readingThe future of work is going to look very different from the world of work at the end of the last century. When trade union membership was at its peak in 1980, jobs were more likely to be full-time, secure and accompanied by a pension and other benefits. Unions helped workers to maintain and improve their terms and conditions. A …
Continue readingWe’ll have a general election within the next year and elections for Councillors, mayors, Police and Crime Commissioners and the London Assembly, in May. With all this activity going on, it feels like democracy is in action, but over the last few years, there has been a raft of legislation that has changed the way our representatives are elected and …
Continue readingA question we get asked a lot at Politics for the Many HQ is why proportional representation (PR) is good for trade unions. Heart Unions Week offers an opportunity to reflect on how our voting system has negatively impacted trade unionists and to embrace the opportunities that a fairer voting system might hold. The trade union movement has always led …
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