ERS: Democracy In The Dark Report

The Electoral Reform Society has released a report into the secretive online campaigning that occurred during the 2019 election.

The Link below will take you to the full report:-

Below are the 10 key reforms recommended by the authors of the report –

10 key reforms

In Democracy in the Dark, the authors highlight 10 key reforms – beyond online imprints – needed to shine a light on online political campaigning: 

1. Require campaigners to provide the Electoral Commission with more detailed, meaningful and accessible invoices of what they have spent, boosting scrutiny and transparency over online vs offline spend. 
2. Strengthen the powers of the Electoral Commission to investigate malpractice and create a stronger deterrent against wrongdoing by increasing the maximum fine it can levy. 
3. Implement shorter reporting deadlines so that financial information from campaigns on their donations and spending is available to voters and the Commission more quickly after a campaign, or indeed, in ‘real time’. Currently, voters have to wait far too long to see the state of the campaign.  
4. Regulate all donations by reducing ‘permissibility check’ requirements from £500 to 1p for all non-cash donations, and £500 to £20 for cash donations. The current rules are riddled with loopholes and haven’t kept up with the digital age, raising the risks of foreign or unscrupulous interference.  
5. Create a publicly accessible, clear and consistent archive of paid-for political advertising. This archive should include details of each advert’s source (name and address), who sponsored (paid) for it, and (for some) the country of origin.  
6. New controls created by social media companies to check that people or organisations who want to pay to place political adverts about elections and referendums in the UK are actually based in the UK or registered to vote here.  
7. New legislation clarifying that campaigning by non-UK actors is not allowed. Campaigners should not be able to accept money from companies that have not made enough money in the UK to fund the amount of their donation or loan. 
8. Legislate for a statutory code of practice for the use of personal information in political campaigns, to clarify the rules and ensure voters know their rights. 
9. A public awareness and digital literacy campaign which will better allow citizens to identify misinformation. 
10. Rationalise Britain’s sprawling, Victorian-era electoral law under one consistent legislative framework. 

Openness and transparency are the key foundations for any democracy. Yet nearly a year after the general election, voters remain in the dark about who is targeting them online.  

I personally believe the first past the post voting system delivers an un-representational political system, which encourages Bi-partialism and antagonistic politics. I believe that a more representational voting system would encourage the development of consensus based politics, leading to more stable education, health and legal systems.

I believe that everyone should be allowed their political beliefs, no matter how vile I may personally find some of them, I believe that everyone deserves a voice of representation in parliament. Yes this will mean that some people whose politics I totally disagree with would also get a voice in parliament, but I believe that it will end up delivering politics that works for the majority of the people. Not the largest Minority as our current system does.

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