Three quarters of English councils have elections in May – so what better time to give the tyres of our local democracy a kick? From the basics of publishing candidate names and polling station locations, to stamping out fake news in political discourse, we explore the ways councils can bring their citizens into local decision-making.
Michela Palese, formerly Research Officer at the UCL Constitution Unit and currently a research officer at the Electoral Reform Society, discusses her recommendations for strengthening our democratic functions in the context of misinformation and disengagement in politics.
Joe Mitchell and Sym Roe from Democracy Club update us on their work to crowdsource candidate data and polling station locations to improve the visibility of local elections, and invite you to join one of their election data parties (‘as fun as Fortnite’).
Cllr Kevin Bonavia, Cabinet Member for Democracy at Lewisham Council, tells us about engaging hard-to-reach citizens through the Lewisham Democracy Review.
Plus our regular roundup of LGiU’s Daily News stories and member-only policy briefings.
Hosted by Jonathan Carr-West and Ingrid Koehler.
- Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lgiu-fortnightly
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Links mentioned in the podcast:
- BLOG: Getting excited about better elections
- Democracy Club
- Constitution Unit: Doing democracy better: a positive blueprint for the future
- or check out the exec summary and blog post
- Lewisham Democracy Review
- Kirklees Democracy Commission
Email ingrid.koehler@lgiu.org with stories you’d like to feature in the podcast.
LGiU Fortnightly is LGiU’s in-house podcast, bringing you the latest news from the world of local government. We update you on the key events from the past fortnight, as well as news from us and our members, so you’re always in the loop. We’re always looking for more ways to bring you the information you need in a way that works around your busy schedule – let us know what you think by tweeting us @LGiU.
