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SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Democracy in Danger
The newspaper’s extensive reporting and analysis of the various threats to democracy from populism, oligarchy, dark money and online disinformation.
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‘Stability and Strong Government? Not with this Merry-Go-Round’
If the UK’s First Past the Post electoral system can’t deliver its supposed advantages, why we are continuing with it?
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Workers Face the Sack if They Don’t Cross Their Own Picket Lines. What Kind of Country is This?
Strike-breaking is now mandatory.
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David Cameron’s Appointment to Cabinet ‘Another Reminder Why the House of Lords Must Go’
The disgraced former Prime Minister has been handed a seat in the Lords for life.
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Government Claims it ‘Takes Seriously Its Constitutional Role and Responsibility’ – As Another Report Raises Concerns About Britain’s Democracy
The United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group believes there is evidence of a desire by some politicians to wholly bypass democracy
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‘Sunak’s Government is Using a Moment of Crisis to Clamp Down on Dissent. We Can’t Let it Stand’
The Conservatives’ rhetoric and actions against the right to protest concern us all, writes Liberty’s interim director Akiko Hart.
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Rishi Sunak U-Turns on Palestine March Protest Ban in Clash With Conservative London Mayoral Candidate
Susan Hall says the protest should have been “refused” permission – but the PM now says they have the right to march
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‘Suella Braverman’s “Hate March” Rhetoric is Another Desperate Attempt to Hold onto State Power’
The crafting of ‘ceasefire’ marches as a transgression of Remembrance Sunday looks like a throwback to a top-down colonial mindset, argues Suriyah Bi
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The Hypocrisy of the AI Summit: The UK is Doing Nothing About Political Misinformation
The Government rejected a cross party Lords recommendation that political advertising should be regulated according to factual accuracy. The former chair of the Select Committee wonders why
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The Empathy Gap and a Politics of Extremes
Empathy – to be of any meaning – needs to be bolstered by a willingness to accept one’s failures, writes Iain Overton
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Time to Tackle ‘Dark Money’ in Politics – As Voters Demand Transparency Over Britain’s Opaque Think Tanks
We know very little about the funding for many of the UK’s leading think tanks – but a new report sheds some light
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Conservative Think Tank Urges Sunak to Sabotage Labour Plans for Electoral and Political Reform
The opaquely-funded group has close links to the Prime Minister
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Government Rejects Voters’ Calls to Make Lying to Parliament a Crime, Over ‘Freedom of Speech’ Fears
Lying to a court is a crime with a prison sentence. Lying to Parliament can lead to a temporary suspension.
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‘Letting Young Adults Vote is One of Labour’s Few Genuinely Radical Proposals’
The extension of the franchise could shift the character of British politics, writes Nicholas Reed Langen
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Reversing the Road to Unfreedom: The Polish Elections are Finally Some Good News for Democracy
Those in America looking for a way out of the toxic Trumpian cycle should look to Poland as a starting point
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Conservative ‘Politicisation’ of the Civil Service Has Damaged Public Trust, Warn Peers
A Parliamentary investigation found senior civil servants were being ousted by the Government for ‘ideological’ reasons
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‘Farcical’: Disbelief as Disgraced Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is Appointed as ‘Democracy Union’ Adviser
Johnson was found to have unlawfully suspended Parliament and lied to MPs.
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‘Scrap Voter ID to Save Cash’, Democracy Group Tells Jeremy Hunt Ahead of Autumn Statement
Mandatory voter ID rules are expected to cost the taxpayer £120m over the next decade.
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Keir Starmer ‘Waters Down’ Labour Commitment to Overhauling Unelected House of Lords
Only last December, Sir Keir backed plans for a “new second chamber” which would have “electoral legitimacy”.
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Government Slammed Over ‘Chilling’ Warning Shot to Media Outlets Over Russell Brand Coverage
“A Legal Officer’s duty is to apply the law, not to interfere with the editorial decisions of a free press,” standards body Impress said in a letter to the Government.
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How Campaigners and Charities are being ‘Gagged by Government’ as Report Issues Stark Warning
From the Lobbying Act to condemnation of peaceful campaigners by Government figures, free speech has been thoroughly degraded, the authors argue
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‘Children of Men’ – 17 Years On: A Grave Warning to a Nation Adrift
The 2006 film set in a dystopian London of the future has much to say about modern Britain – especially the ‘doom loop’ trapping younger generations, writes Matt Gallagher
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Revealed: Former MPs Used Parliament Access Passes Over 3,000 times
This is the last time you’ll ever know about ex-MPs who lobby for nuclear, gambling and energy industries visiting Parliament – because Jacob Rees Mogg had all the data destroyed
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Fears of a ‘Progressive Tragedy’ in Mid Beds as Labour and Lib Dems Fight It Out
Compass director Neal Lawson described the situation in Nadine Dorries’ seat as “madness”.
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Voter ID, Big Party Bungs, and Payouts to Shamed MPs Would Be Scrapped Under Lib Dem Plans
The Liberal Democrats have set out proposals for overhauling UK democracy, our Chief Reporter writes from Bournemouth.
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‘Government Stonewalling on Transparency on Foreign Influence Undermines its Tough Rhetoric on Chinese Spying’
An approach to foreign influence that relies on identifying particular state threats risks shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, writes Tom Griffin
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Campaigners Risk Prison by Standing Outside Courts Telling Jurors of ‘Right to Acquit’
Trudi Warner faces up to two years in prison for contempt of court. Now activists across the country are copying her action in solidarity
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Welsh Government Throws Down the Gauntlet in Bid to Stop Controversial ‘Anti-Boycott’ Bill
Opponents of the bill say it is designed to undermine the freedom of speech of those critical of the Israeli Government
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Government Rejects Call For Voters To Boot Out No-Show MPs Like Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries has prompted a debate over whether MPs should be forced to attend Parliament – rather than attend their lucrative TV gigs.
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One Alleged Chinese Spy Simply Means There Are Many More
China has emerged as a greater threat than Russia, despite Ukraine. In the New Cold War, China is richer, more populous, and the dominant power pitted against the West
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Voter ID Made it Harder for Young, Poor and Ethnic Minorities to Vote, Official Study Finds
The study suggests that those groups less likely to vote Conservative were more likely to be turned away
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Westminster’s Two-Party ‘Duopoly’ Leaves Voters with ‘Little Choice’ and Lacking ‘Meaningful Voice’, Study Finds
Political distrust has often “been the first step in a sequence of autocratisation, resulting in the breakdown of democracy itself” the report notes.
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Press Watchdog Writes to Conservatives and Party Chairs Over ‘Misleading’ Fake Newspapers
The party is “misleading voters into believing what they are reading is the work of local journalists from independent publications”
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‘Britain and the US: How the Oligarchies Posing as Democracies have Been Exposed’
Something even worse than government run by politicians is government run by politics, writes AC Grayling
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‘If Our Government Turns on its Own People, We Will Need the ECHR to Protect Us’
The European Court of Human Rights is there to safeguard us against our own worst impulses – calls to leave its jurisdiction are deeply troubling, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘The Modern Conservative Party Holds the ‘Will of the People’ in Contempt’
In Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, the ethos of public service is being replaced by self-service
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Fake Newspapers Sent by Political Parties Should be Banned, Voters Say
Two thirds of Conservative voters also want the tactic currently being pushed by Rishi Sunak’s party to be outlawed
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Rishi Sunak’s Many Failures to Fully Declare his Conflicts of Interests
The claim that the PM’s failure to declare his wife’s investment in a childcare company subsidised by his Government was ‘inadvertent’ is open to question
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Gambling Firms Hit With Huge Increase in Fines as Industry Splashes out on MPs
Gambling companies received 31,500% more in fines than in the same period a decade ago, Byline Times’ analysis reveals
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Voters are Posting the Conservative Party’s Fake Newspapers Back in Bid to Cost Them a Fortune
There has been a major backlash to the party’s attempts to pass off campaign leaflets as independent local newspapers
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Tufton Street-Linked Trans-Exclusionary Charity Receives Surge in Funding
The LGB Alliance has received a surge in donations amid ongoing calls for it to lose its charitable status
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Revealed: The Scandal of the Fake Newspapers Pushed by Conservatives in ‘Dirty Tricks’ Campaign
The elections watchdog has said the fake newspapers from local Conservative parties appear to be within the rules
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‘Code of Conduct’ Review: A Brave and Important Work – With a Few Omissions
The proposals set out by Labour MP Chris Bryant to clean-up Parliament should be adopted by his party’s leader for its next manifesto, writes Peter Oborne
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Anger as Nadine Dorries’ Year-Long Silence in Parliament is Deemed ‘Within the Rules’ By Standards Watchdog
Despite failing to speak in Parliament for over a year, Tory MP Nadine Dorries has made time for her lucrative TalkTV job
