Elections

The far right AfD is poised for major wins this weekend’s eastern state elections amid rising discontent

The sentiments of the city’s inhabitants reveal a complex mix of political engagement and disillusionment

The cross-party political campaign group Unlock Democracy proposes overseas constituencies to better represent Brits abroad

As Marine Le Pen’s extreme right party creeps ever further ahead of its rivals, a new democratic collective has emerged

This week’s European elections could leave Italy’s right wing PM as the continent’s biggest power-broker

Presidential victory for an ally of pro-Russia PM Robert Fico gives Zelensky and the EU a new headache

There is a strong sense of a country in a political “bad mood”, and up to a quarter of adults are considering emigration

I am looking forward to the Tories’ demise at the next general election, but it is our entire political system that must radically change, and for good

Can Donald Tusk turn back the populist tide in this weekend’s election? Or will PiS deal yet another blow to the EU’s hopes of unity?

Only Keir Starmer or Rishi Sunak can be PM after the next election. If you want to see the back of the Conservatives you need to vote Labour

Owen Jones has got it wrong (again). Hoping for a hung parliament is a self-indulgent waste of time

Russia seems too tired and depleted to be able to resist tyrannical leaders

A new voting system does not mean progressives in perpetual power – if anything it would bolster the far right

Should the dastardly progressives impose PR on the nation, the days of the Tory minority exercising unlimited power could be over... the horror

The effective slow disenfranchisement of the white working-class vote is Labour’s biggest problem in the Batley and Spen by-election

Its 10-year anniversary has just passed unheralded, so what did we learn from another divisive single-issue poll? When the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum rolls around in 2026, it’s a fair bet it will pass amid much clamour. The celebrations – and the criticism – are likely to be loud. Yet the ten year anniversary of another […]

Former MP and veteran campaigner George Galloway has announced he is running in the forthcoming Batley and Spen by-election with the explicit aim of ousting Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party. Galloway, who was expelled from Labour in 2003, said he is standing as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain in […]

Voters in Batley and Spen will go to the polls on July 1, with the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox hoping to retain the seat for Labour. Kim Leadbeater has been selected as the Labour candidate for the by-election in the West Yorkshire constituency previously represented by her sister. The by-election was triggered after […]

An alliance of councillors could form to take control of Durham County Council off Labour for the first time in more than 100 years, it has emerged. Independents, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are holding meetings to discuss how they would share power in what was once a stronghold of the Labour party. Labour has 53 […]

Keir Starmer is under pressure from within his own party to make electoral reform a manifesto commitment following four consecutive general election losses and the recent local election setbacks. The pressure comes after a recent Best for Britain poll had shown at least half of its respondents backed electoral reform to make the number of elected representatives […]

Efforts to explain recent political developments through the prism of regions misses more pertinent points about England’s electoral map On Crosby beach on the north shore of the River Mersey, Antony Gormley’s sculptures of naked metal men famously stand stoically in the face of the waves of the Irish Sea. Much of this coastline is lined by […]

Voters are going to the polls in a by-election to choose a new MP for the Airdrie and Shotts constituency. Polling stations opened Thursday morning in the North Lanarkshire seat in the race to replace incumbent SNP MP Neil Gray. Gray stepped down to contest the same seat in the Scottish Parliament election and became […]

The SNP and Scottish Greens have hit out at plans for voter identification contained in the Queen’s Speech, while the Scottish secretary says it “delivers for Scotland”. Proposals in the UK government’s legislative programme would require voters to have photo identification in Westminster elections. Of the 33 Bills set out in the Queen’s Speech, 30 […]

Civil liberties groups, electoral reformers and senior MPs on both sides of the Commons have condemned government plans to introduce a requirement for voters to prove their identity before casting their ballot. Downing Street said it was a “reasonable approach” and 99.6% of people in pilots requiring people to show photographic ID had managed to […]

A senior Tory has revealed plans to repeal the Fixed Term Parliament Act, which some speculate could pave the way for an early general election. Commons leader Jacob Rees Mogg said the government would introduce legislation on shelving the Act in the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday. The Act – introduced by former prime minister David Cameron […]

The government is pushing ahead with changes to electoral law that could make it easier for Conservatives to win future mayoral elections. Home secetary Priti Patel has already unveiled plans to introduce the first past the post electoral system used to elect MPs in Westminster. Mayors across England are elected from the existing supplementary vote […]

There are few European leaders more colourful and controversial than Bulgaria’s Boyko Borisov. Now, demographic forces unleashed by the pandemic could topple him and offer a new start for the EU’s poorest nation The beginning of the end for Bulgaria’s bruising former bodyguard turned prime minister Boyko Borisov came last summer, when a photo surfaced showing […]

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is “extremely confident” the party is heading back into power at Holyrood – although she conceded winning an overall majority of MSPs there is a “very, very long shot”. As early results started to come in from Thursday’s Scottish parliament elections, the Scottish first minister downplayed the prospect of winning a […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that he will do “whatever it takes” to rebuild trust in the party following its “bitterly disappointing” by-election defeat in Hartlepool. Starmer has come under fire from all sides after Labour suffered a crushing defeat. In a stunning result, the Conservatives took the seat – which had been […]

The SNP will be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish parliament, deputy first minister John Swinney has declared – though he said it was still too early to say if the party would win an overall majority at Holyrood. Swinney, also the education secretary in the Scottish government, comfortably held his Perthshire […]

Boris Johnson has described the early election results as “very encouraging” after hopes of a Labour revival were dealt a crushing blow when the Conservatives won the Hartlepool by-election. Speaking to reporters in Coventry, the prime minister said: “I know that the results have been coming in since this morning and there’s clearly a lot […]