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Category - constitutional reform

  • 9 May 2011
    Time for a bolder vision of our democratic future

    There can be no one who voted or campaigned for the Alternative Vote who believed it to be anything other than a first step towards full reform of the electoral system. Initially, Nick Clegg's petulant description of it as a “miserable little compromise” seemed an example of the perfect being permitted to become the enemy of the possible. However, it now seems that the pursuit of incremental change may have turned out to be a mistake.

  • 22 Mar 2011
    Concern about 'too little, too early' Egyptian referendum

    Representatives of Egypts 4 million Coptic Christians have joined other minority groups in expressing concern about hasty constitutional change in Egypt.

  • 11 Mar 2011
    Time to atone: The churches and the Alternative Vote

    Once in a while, the Church gets a chance to atone for its sins. The referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) for Westminster elections is a golden opportunity to demonstrate that, unlike the Church of 100 years ago, which op¬posed the suffragettes, it will back the campaign for a fairer electoral system.

  • 28 Aug 2010
    Christian Aid welcomes Kenya's new constitution but warns against self-interest of political elite

    Christian Aid has welcomed Kenya’s new constitution but warns the country’s democratic institutions must be bolstered to prevent members of the political elite furthering their own interests.

  • 6 May 2010
    I can cope with the despair. It's the hope I can't stand

    Today, I went to a polling station to do something which I hope never to do again. I voted in a general election conducted under the first-past-the-post system.

  • 8 Apr 2010
    Ethical election games: 'Follow the Leader'

    The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) have produced a fantastic tool which will highlight how the big party leaders will be spending their time this election - targeting a very small number of marginal seats. It will be very revealing about where their values lie.

  • 7 Apr 2010
    Brown ‘all words and no action’ on constitutional reform, say campaigners

    Campaigners have said that Gordon Brown’s announcements which include proposals for an elected second chamber, amount to "a lot of words but no action".

  • 19 Nov 2009
    Politicians must focus on the most vulnerable, say churches

    Following the proposals set out in the Queen's Speech, three of Britain's largest denominations are urging the UK's politicians to “focus their concern on those who made little out of the good economic years".

  • 26 Jul 2009
    Get involved in proposing democratic change

    Real Change: The Open Politics Network is shortly to be involved in a series of small ‘hearings’ (focus-group like meetings) across the UK to find out what concerned citizens in Britain think about the renewal of politics and the democratic process.

  • 25 Jun 2009
    Bishop joins calls for voting reform

    Britain should re-examine its voting system in the light of ‘the constitutional crisis’, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, said last night.