Andy Burnham is right to back proportional representation, and right not to tie it to another referendum. But he should go further. A national commission on electoral reform would be…
13 Jul, 2026
Proportional Representation
30 Jun, 2026
Why Electoral Reform and UK-EU Rapprochement Go Hand-in-Hand
The incoming prime minister should treat electoral reform not as a separate constitutional project, but as the precondition for any lasting settlement with Europe A decade after the UK public…
26 Jun, 2026
The Mandate That Never Was
This week, almost exactly ten years after the Brexit referendum, Keir Starmer announced his resignation. Andy Burnham, who has spoken before about wanting to scrap First Past the Post and…
19 Jun, 2026
Compass Statement on Makerfield By-election
Today we feel that rare emotion for progressives: the lure of hope. This is an exciting, tantalising, and daunting moment; not just for us at Compass, not just for all…
10 Sep, 2025
How Can the ‘Good Society’ Actually Happen?
The UK is now stumbling headlong toward disaster in the guise of a Reform UK single party administration with Nigel Farage as Prime Minister, wielding virtually unfettered power, backed by…
22 Apr, 2025
Speech to Oxfordshire Compass – 12th April 2025
This post was first given as a speech to members of Oxfordshire Compass by Compass Director, Neal Lawson on 12th April 2025. Winning office is never enough, we have to…
25 Feb, 2025
Keir Starmer Must Embrace Proportional Representation and End the Coercive Duopoly Throttling Our Democracy
Britain will never truly change for the better as long as Britain’s deeply unfair voting system remains in place, argues Neal Lawson This week I’m going to write about electoral…
11 Oct, 2024
The Labour government must do more to prove its commitment to constitutional reform
Despite winning a huge majority in parliament a few months prior, Prime Minister Keir Starmer went into last month's Labour Party conference facing slumping party morale and growing unpopularity. With…
31 Jul, 2024
Why the Green Party admitting the limits of its power could aid the fight for climate justice
The July 4 general election results were nothing short of extraordinary for the Green Party. As someone who has been deeply involved in this movement for many years, I cannot…
21 Mar, 2024
A democratic revolt from below is bubbling up
No one outside of a diminishing band of party bureaucrats believes our political and democratic system is working. Of course, the charade continues; of PMQ's, of who's up and who's…
05 Feb, 2024
A Green New Deal can’t be an ambition, it’s a necessity.
The planet needs to be saved, people need well paid jobs in the areas they live, and everyone wants to see their heating bills reduced. A big investment in a…
04 Dec, 2023
A bleak week in Dutch politics: where next for progressives?
Dutch parliamentary elections 2023: despite a progressive alliance of labour and greens, the extreme right were victorious. The result has shocked the country, and the world. So what happened, and…