This year’s winner of the McDougall Trust prize was Daniel Casey, a lecturer from the School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University.

His dissertation title was ‘The Opinion-Agenda Linkage:  How Letters From the Public to the Prime Minister Impact the Policy Agenda’

The judges said: “This is an impressive thesis that makes novel theoretical and empirical advances in the field of political representation. Clearly articulated and persuasive in its analyses, it is a deserving winner of this prize.”

McDougall Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Laura Sudulich and Dr Chris Prosser as trustees after an open recruitment exercise.

Chair of Trustees, Derek McAuley, says “It’s a real pleasure to welcome Laura and Chris whose knowledge and expertise in politics and democratic engagement and current academic roles will really strengthen the board and help McDougall push forward its mission in promoting electoral democracy.”

Dr Laura Sudulich is a Reader in Public Policy at the University of Essex. As a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) Fellow she is leading a project titled ‘Mapping Parliamentary Engagement Across the World’. Her research interests include elections, public opinion and political communication.

Dr Chris Prosser is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London and is Co-director of the British Election Study (BES) and has worked as a psephologist for ITV’s election night coverage since 2015.

Commenting on her new role, Laura says: “I am honoured to be appointed as trustee of the McDougall Trust. I feel strongly about the Trust's mission to promote electoral democracy and to support research.” 

Chris says:“At a time when democracy faces serious challenges across the world, understanding how democracy works and the ways it can be strengthen has never been more important. I'm honoured to join the McDougall Trust and look forward to supporting its vital work in promoting research and education about electoral democracy.”

The McDougall Trust is a small charity whose purpose is to promote electoral democracy.  It is reaching a turning point in its development and seeks new trustees to help steer this process.

The Trust is currently open to Expressions of Interest so for an application pack or for further information please contact the Charity Manager at: support@mcdougall.org.uk

The 2024 UK General Election: Results, Issues and a Commentary regarding Electoral Democracy:

Less a Landslide than Implosion and Fragmentation

Contrary to many comments it’s not so much a Labour landslide (e.g. The Guardian headline on 5 July: “Labour landslide”) but more an implosion of the Conservative vote combined with fragmentation of parties. Thus, Labour won 63% of all seats i.e. almost double their 34% of the vote while turnout was modest at 60%, in fact down nearly 7% on 2019.Conversely the Conservative vote share at 24% exceeded their share of seats (19%) by 5% yet it almost halved from 43% of the vote in 2019 to 24% this year.

Congratulations to Dr Laura Serra who has been announced as the 2024 winner of the McDougall Trust Academic Prize for her 2023-34 dissertation “The widening age gap at UK elections”.

McDougall Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of new editors to its highly respected publication REPRESENTATION Journal of Representative Democracy.

Dr Simona Guerra of University of Surrey https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/simona-guerra and Dr Javier Sajuria of Queen Mary University of London https://www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/staff/profiles/sajuriajavier.html will take over as editors with the publication of the first edition in 2024, which marks the beginning of the journal’s sixtieth volume. Launched in 1908 as the house newsletter of the Proportional Representation Society and later the Electoral Reform Society, REPRESENTATION is a peer reviewed academic journal that seeks to explore the interface between democratic practice and theory.

The McDougall Trust and the Modern Records Centre are pleased to announce that the future of the archives held by the McDougall Trust, including the earliest records of the Proportional Representation Society and the Electoral Reform Society, has been secured following their transfer to the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.

McDougall Trust is seeking new Lead Editors for its highly regarded journal REPRESENTATION journal of representative democracy, see:

Representation | Taylor & Francis Online (tandfonline.com)

First produced in 1908 as the newsletter of the former Proportional Representation Society, REPRESENTATION is published quarterly by Taylor & Francis (Informa UK) under the Routledge imprint and has established itself as a leading resource for students, academics and anyone interested in the theory and practice of representative democracy worldwide.

The deadline for applications has NOW BEEN EXTENDED to Monday 27 November 2023.

For a copy of the detailed Brief, please contact the Interim Charity Manager, Nick Moore, via email at: support@mcdougall.org.uk

In association with Political Studies Association [PSA] and its Elections, Public Opinion and Parties [EPOP] group McDougall Trust provides grant funding for a prize offered annually for the best postgraduate thesis at a UK university in the sphere of elections, electoral systems and representation. 

The prize for theses submitted in 2022 has been shared by Dr Lotte Hargrave and Dr Ceri Fowler.

In the run up to King Charles III’s coronation, the UCL Constitution Unit collaborated with UK in a Changing Europe, to release a major new report, The British Monarchy. 

The report explains what the monarchy does and how it does it, placing it within its wider historical and comparative context. This indispensable guide ahead of the coronation, features contributions from a dozen leading experts delving into a broad range of issues and topics.

On the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, Alan Whysall’s new report sets out the prospects for Northern Ireland’s constitutional future. He concludes that early constitutional change is unlikely. But he argues action is urgently needed to revive the Agreement.

23rd March 2023 marked the release of ‘The Parliamentary Battle over Brexit’, an authoritative account by UCL Constitution Unit Director Meg Russell and Research Fellow Lisa James, charting the full story of how Brexit was played out in parliament. 

On 7th March 2023 The Constitution Unit at UCL published the findings of a second major survey investigating citizens’ attitudes to how democracy should function in the UK.

Trust in politicians is at a low ebb and the health of the UK democracy matters as much to voters as issues such as crime and immigration, according to a new report by the UCL Constitution Unit.

The report – co-authored by the Unit’s Alan Renwick, Meg Russell, and James Cleaver and Ben Lauderdale, Head of the UCL Department of Political Science – found that most voters believe stronger mechanisms are needed to ensure politicians follow the rules, with four out of five saying the current system needs reform so that politicians who do not act with integrity can be punished.