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SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Creaking Constitution
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‘Modernising’ Behind Closed Doors: The Committee for Bringing Parliament Up to Date Holds All Its Meetings in Private
Exclusive: Cross-party group meant to help restore trust in politics has so far refused to hold any of its sessions in public
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‘Britain’s Deeply Unfair Two-Party Electoral System is Dying and MPs Know It’
Startling new research reveals that this year’s General Election was the ‘most disproportionate ever’ with millions of votes wasted
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Keir Starmer Considers Closing Elon Musk Donations Loophole to Stop ‘Foreign Interference’ in UK Elections
A rumoured $100 million donation from Musk to Nigel Farage’s Reform would be banned under the proposal
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Keir Starmer Rejects Call for ‘Fairer Votes’ Despite MPs Voting in Favour of Proportional Representation
The Prime Minister is blocking reform after the House of Commons voted in favour of a more representative voting system
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The Conservative Government Put Forward ‘Crappy’ Laws, Say Conservative Politicians
The last Government passed shabbily-drafted pieces of legislation which were only saved by amendments from Labour and the House of Lords, according to two senior Conservative figures
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Civil Service Union Wins Unanimous Supreme Court Victory Over Conservative ‘Attack’ on Its Finances
The last Government’s battle with unions has ended with PCS now able to claw back tens of millions of pounds from Government
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Amid the Media Noise About ‘Cronyism’, Keir Starmer Is Quietly Reforming Political Standards for the Better
The spectre of Boris Johnson’s assault on standards in public life is slowly retreating, argues Josiah Mortimer
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Kemi Badenoch Told to Face up to Conservatives’ Democratic Failings After Years of Sleaze and Rule-Breaking
The Conservative Party’s new leader has appointed a series of Shadow Cabinet ministers whose Government records were clouded in scandal
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Calls for Government to Go ‘Much Further’ as Voter ID Changes are put to MPs
Campaigners warn thousands of legitimate voters will still be at risk of being disenfranchised under the ‘discriminatory’ system
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Government Could Reverse Conservative Attempts to ‘Gerrymander’ Mayoral Voting Systems
The voting system for Mayoral and PCC elections could return to a more proportional system, reversing changes allegedly designed to benefit the Conservative Party
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The House of Commons Wants Your Views on Modernising Parliament – Just Don’t Say ‘Knock it Down’
It’s a bid to clean up Parliament’s act after years of sleaze and lobbying scandals
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Conservatives Mount Bungled Defence of Hereditary Peers in Bizarre Commons Debate
Does the Conservative Party support or oppose the idea of hereditary peers? Most of them won’t say…
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Government to Reject SNP Bid to Scrap the House of Lords – But Hereditary Peers Will Go
Lords reform bill is “114 years too little, too late” Scottish National Party says as Commons prepares to debate scrapping hereditary peers
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What the Media Doesn’t Say About Our Monarchy
‘The depravity that millions of people had to endure in the name of the monarch. Even the clothing, the crown, the gems – everything is soaked in blood’
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Anti-Monarchy Activists Prepare to Mark Year Since Coronation Day Arrests in UK’s First ‘Republic Day’
Republicans unfurled banners outside Kensington Palace and across the UK on Sunday ahead of a major day of action
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‘The Royal Family’s Sustainability In Its Current Form Can No Longer Be Guaranteed’
The social media frenzy around the Princess of Wales’ absence from public life reveals the most fundamental tension in our modern monarchy: the codependence of the Royal Family and the press, writes Jonathan Lis
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‘Fixing Broken Britain Starts with Changing a Broken Light Bulb’
UK democracy needs radical reform – but there is little evidence our leaders are ready to take up the challenge, writes Alun Drake
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Major Political Reform Could Secure Key Labour Target Voters, Study Suggests
“I think the whole thing is thoroughly broken at this point” a focus group participant said
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Exploding ‘Megxit’: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-for-Leaks Scandal Split the Monarchy
The first retail edition of Byline Times’ monthly newspaper reveals the world exclusive story about why Prince Harry and Meghan really left the Royal Family
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The British Museum Begs for Help Over 2,000 Lost Treasures – Why Did They Ignore Public Concerns in the Past?
A year ago the British Museum only reported on theft from its collection. Why has it taken so long for news of thousands of missing, stolen or damaged artefacts to emerge?
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The Great Unwatched: Who’s Tuning into the Lords? Not Many, According to Viewing Figures
Even the key showdown over the Illegal Migration Bill in the chamber had just 6,000 views
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‘We Must Defend Our Democratic Space Before It’s Too Late’
Caroline Slocock – director of think tank Civil Exchange – explores how politicians’ respect for our democratic institutions has shifted since she was the first female private secretary at No. 10 under Margaret Thatcher
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‘Labour Must Be Bold on Political Reform Beyond It’s Own Self-Interest if we are to have a Properly Functioning Democracy’
A big problem facing UK politics is that both main political parties see the status quo as in their narrow self-interest, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘A Fully-Elected House of Lords Is Not the Answer to Much-Needed Reform’
Boris Johnson’s controversial appointments to the upper chamber show change is required – but Labour may not be on the right track
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The Missing Million-Pound Donor Lords
Byline Times analyses the attendance rate of 12 Peers who have donated more than £1 million to the party that appointed them
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Public Overwhelmingly Opposed to Liz Truss Dishing Out Gongs and Peerages in Resignation Honours
Exclusive polling for Byline Times suggests that the public rejects the short-lived Prime Minister being able to create new peers in the Lords
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The Idea to Overhaul the House of Lords that Politicians Aren’t Talking About
YouGov polling suggests strong potential support across the board for a very different chamber to replace the House of Lords
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The Coronation: ‘A Spectacle of Apathy’
It is almost as though Queen Elizabeth’s death has brought down the old scaffolding, writes Jonathan Lis
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The Coronation: ‘It’s Only by Chance Prince Andrew Isn’t Being Crowned King’
Baroness Jenny Jones explores how reform of the monarchy could work better for our democracy
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The Coronation: ‘Picking the Wrong Constitutional Fights’
Introducing an electoral system of proportional representation should take priority over conversations about the future nature of Britain’s head of state, writes AC Grayling
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The Coronation: ‘Is It Lese Majeste to Want Less Majesty?’
King Charles’ Coronation is a missed opportunity to move monarchy into the modern era, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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LOCAL ELECTIONS 2023: Left-of-Centre Vote ‘Hopelessly Split as Twice as Many Progressives Running Against the Right in England’
Campaigners warn of vote-splitting as new analysis finds that the ‘progressive’ vote will be more split than the right in 69% of England’s council wards on 4 May
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Keir Starmer Faces Fresh Calls to Back Westminster Voting Overhaul
The Labour Leader is being urged to keep his promises on reforming democracy, Josiah Mortimer reports
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Leaping Over the Lords
Labour’s announcement that it would abolish the UK’s unelected second chamber is a headline-grabbing idea with little thought of the problems involved, writes AC Grayling
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Ministers Should Face Legal Sanctions for Breaking Rules, say MPs
David Hencke reports on the Commons Committee which proposes wholesale reform of the ‘toothless’ regulators supposed to safeguard propriety in public office
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‘Amateur Hour in British Politics’
As more and more ministers are handed top jobs for their loyalty rather than their competence, former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall considers what we can do about this democratic deficit
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The Causes and Consequences of Political Chaos: MPs Versus Party Members
The genesis of the current chaos lies in the main political parties deciding to allow their members to choose their leaders, writes David Keys
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‘Small Constitutional Changes Could Urgently Address the Big Mess We Find Ourselves In’
Frances Crook, co-convener of the Commission on Political Power, sets out why incremental shifts in the role of monarchy and an over-powerful executive could strengthen democracy in the unlikely event of wholesale reform
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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: An Unprecedented Reign – But What Next for 21st Century Britain?
The Queen’s 70 years on the throne have seen Britain undergo extraordinary change – how will the monarchy’s constitutional and societal role continue to evolve in the years ahead?
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A Nation Split on the Monarchy
New polling by Omnisis for Byline Times shows a significant body of support outside England for an elected head of state
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The Boris Johnson Era has Shown how Vulnerable the UK is to Electoral Autocracy
Partygate showed that the UK’s creaking constitution gives little protection against a Prime Minister determined to ignore convention and the rule of law, writes Adam Bienkov
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Risking Our Democracy
Former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall argues that the time has come for serious discussions about reforming Britain’s political structures
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Former Conservative Justice Secretary Condemns Johnson’s Plan to Curtail Rule of Law
David Gauke believes that a proposal to retrospectively overrule Supreme Court decisions stems from the Prime Minister’s view that any constraint on his power is “intolerable”
