Heather Green

Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.

Voters set to get power to sack misbehaving Senedd members Chris Haines – ICNN Senedd reporter Voters would be given the power to remove Senedd members from office between elections under a new draft accountability bill published by the Welsh Government. Juli...

Voters would be given the power to remove Senedd members from office between elections under a new draft accountability bill published by the Welsh Government

Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 16 September 2025. It gives effect to the Labour Party’s 2024 Manifesto commitment to introduce a ‘Hillsborough L…

Cassandra Somers-Joce: A New Chapter for Governmental Candour? The Public Office (Accountability) Bill ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/06/c...

Tortoise Media v Conservative Party in the Court of Appeal Published in Judicial Review (Ahead of Print, 2025)

A case note by Leah Trueblood and me on this summer’s Tortoise Media v Conservative Party decision has been published in Judicial Review.

Open Access link here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

The University of Glasgow groundspeople are going to be quite annoyed when they come in to work tomorrow...

Hora v the United Kingdom: Strasbourg’s New Ruling on UK’s Prisoner Voting Ban - UK Human Rights Blog By Lewis Graham In 2005, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down its landmark decision in Hirst v the United Kingdom, finding that the effect of section 3 of the Representa...

Hora v the United Kingdom: Strasbourg’s New Ruling on UK’s Prisoner Voting Ban

ukhumanrightsblog.com/2025/10/01/h...

This should really be a given, especially for a Government pledging to clean up politics and remedy some of the worst behaviour of the past Governments. It's also one of those things that isn't necessarily a problem today, but it certainly could be under a future authoritarian Government.

Scottish parliament votes in favour of allowing councils to cap rent increases Legislation hailed as ‘historic step for fixing rigged housing market’ but campaigners say bolder action needed

Scottish parliament votes for UK-first rent caps

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Why a “National Commission” is the way forward for electoral reform Electoral reform is back on the UK’s political agenda as First-Past-the-Post strains under the pressures of multi-party politics. The new APPG for Fair Elections proposes a National Commission to e…

I've written for @uniofbathipr.bsky.social blog about why the @appgfairelections.bsky.social's blueprint for a "National Commission on Electoral Reform" avoids the pitfalls of previous electoral reform efforts (e.g. the Jenkins Commission), and offers a way for British politics to escape from FPTP

Nottingham Post launches legal challenge over Reform press ban Council leader Mick Barton has not spoken to journalists from the Nottingham Post since August.

Journalists have the right & duty to report on local government. The public has a right to read/access their stories to form an opinion. Their rights are protected by Art 10 ECHR. Good to see public interest litigation www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... @hrcscotland.bsky.social @nujscotland.bsky.social

Democracy in danger: why the government must restore the Electoral Commission’s full independence - Spotlight on Corruption Democracy in danger: A fully independent Electoral Commission is critical to ensuring the integrity of UK elections, and maintaining public confidence.

⚠️ Our Democracy in Danger report warns that ministers’ power over the @electoralcommission.org.uk “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy.” The previous govt introduced measures to allow them to set the Commission’s strategy and policy, curtailing the regulator's independence.

A horizontal line carved into a wall with three lines fanning out downwards from its centre.

I've discovered a new non-extreme, slow-sport that involves hunting down Ordnance Survey Benchmarks. It's like a laid back Pokémon Go I guess.

I case you don't know, OSBs are marks or plates placed on buildings, walls etc to show the elevation above sea level.

They often look like this...

The report was mentioned in the Guardian yesterday, worth reading itself by those interested in constitutional matters.

The dramatic fall in the country's international standing & potential consequences, comparing with what's happening in the US.

www.spotlightcorruption.org/wp-content/u...

Calls for Reform UK councillor to resign as 'evil' comment fallout continues Calls are being made for the Reform UK councillor at Cambridgeshire County Council, Andy Osborn, to resign.

Reform UK Councillor Andy Osborne was charged this morning with committing an illegal electoral practice contrary to s106(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

His plea hearing is at Westminster Magistrates Court on October 9th.

Here’s more on him: www.huntspost.co.uk/news/2522093...

abstract of journal article linked to later in thread

What does it mean for someone to be charged with a criminal offence?
My new journal article is out this week in OUP’s Human Rights Law Review on the ECtHR's Engel criteria in the 21st century (1/4)

academic.oup.com/hrlr/article...
#echr #humanrights #humanrightslaw #law

Text of tweet by Lord Rennard on Government's plan to impose a Strategy & Policy Statement on Electoral Commission

Confirmation Govt plans to keep & use the power to set a Strategy & Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission, despite vocally opposing this reform during passage of Elections Act 2022

We urge the government to reconsider its position and:
1️⃣ Remove the ministerial power to set the Electoral Commissions strategy and policy
2️⃣ Put the statutory independence of the Electoral Commission clearly into legislation

Moldovan diaspora critical in elections as country battles Russian vote-buying, says former minister Watchdogs say Russia offering overseas voters cash for evidence of voter fraud in possible ploy to declare election rigged

Elections in Moldova on Sunday. The diaspora including an estimated 40,000 in the UK will be critical as Russia floods country and diaspora outlets with offers of money in what former deputy PM Nicu Popescu told me was a "brutal vote buying" operation by Kremlin.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

My article 'Backdoor Executive Empowerment' is now available open access published by Legal Studies. The paper identifies 6 mechanisms the last UK Government used to obstruct democratic scrutiny of new changes it introduced to expand executive powers 🧵1/5

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Migrant Electoral Rights (MER) Dataset - Globalcit Suffrage is a central element of democracy. Over time, electoral rights have increasingly become available to migrants—both as non-citizen residents and as non-resident citizens. However, existing dat...

Explore the new GLOBALCIT Migrant Electoral Rights (MER) Dataset ❗🌐

🌍 165 countries (1960–2020)
📊 488 indicators
🗳️ voting & candidacy rights of non-citizen residents + non-resident citizens
🏛️ Differentiates election type (legislative, executive, referendum) & level

📥: tinyurl.com/yv37nj7m

Why does the Conservative Party want the Electoral Commission to investigate this?

It concerns criminal offences regarding which the EC cannot issue civil sanctions.

And as it happens it was the Conservatives who amended the law to prevent the EC from prosecuting, under the Elections Act 2022.

Prisoner Voting is Back! And Strasbourg is still in a right old prickle. The Court doesn't want to back down on Hirst, but also doesn't want a fight with the UK. So it concluded that the particular claimant in Hora v UK could legitimately have the vote removed:

hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=002-14...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled, 20 years after the landmark Hirst case, that an applicant prisoner's inability to vote in a UK General Election did not breach the Convention.

Hora v United Kingdom (23 September 2025): hudoc.echr.coe.int?i=001-244851

Some quick thoughts from me:

1/7

A new UK prisoner voting case and the first since some have been allowed to vote post-Hirst. A convicted rapist having his right to vote restricted in the 2019 election was not disproportionate.

Judgment - hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001-24...

Press Release - hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=....

The European Court of Human Rights has today backed the UK (as it generally does) in a new case concerning voting rights for prisoners.

Full press release 👉 go.coe.int/ZTxdw

The previous UK #PrisonerVoting case was closed in 2018 after the government introduced some administrative changes.

#ECHR

Swearing-in of the new judge elected in respect of the United Kingdom.

Judge Hugh Mercer was formally sworn in today in the Court's Main Hearing Room.

He is elected for a nine-year, non-renewable term.

This is HUGE! For a lot of reasons, (it's a resounding rejection of how this council tax reduction scheme operated) but especially - a finding of a *Public Sector Equality Duty breach*!! On grounds of disability! And a warning about risks to fairness and lawfulness of automated decision making.

This is a really fun read even for non-lawyers. It’s four pages.