1/5 🗳️ Why reporting of devolved politics matters ahead of elections in 🇬🇧 Our new Cardiff University research (featured in Guardian) shows many voters in Wales are still unsure who is responsible for key policy decisions such as UK or Welsh governments: www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...

Candidates for the Scottish Parliamentary elections were published last night. These are now all in our system, and voters can view their ballot papers by entering their postcode: whocanivotefor.co.uk

Scottish Parliament Nominations! 🧵 Allowing for human error (it's late), here's my first pass at numbers! Total Unique Candidates: 683 nominated candidates, down from 808 in 2021 Constituency: 437, up from 357 Region: 581, down from 701 (Unique isn't Const + List as many contest both ballots)

Voters in Wales and Scotland don't need to show ID to vote (for non-Westminster elections), so this applies to voters in England.

One month left to apply: People voting in the upcoming local elections in May can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, a free form of ID that can be used to vote at a polling station. The Electoral Commission is calling for people to get hold of one if they don't have other photo ID

Out today: The latest edition of The Constitution In Review by the United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group. Their latest report covers 1 Jul-1 Dec 2025 and is required reading for all with an in interest the UK's constitutional arrangements. Read it now at: consoc.org.uk/publications...

With just two days to go until nominations close, it's being reported that Guy Ingerson is no longer the top candidate for the Greens in the North East, so Maggie Chapman presumably returns to the top of the list, going from "guaranteed loss" to "50/50 depending on how much SNP warp proportionality"

Political AI deepfakes are "unacceptable" but not, crucially, illegal - meaning I expect we'll still see a fair bit of it from outriders, bots and the far-right

I've written on my blog about last week's important decision from the Court of Session looking at the interaction between legal professional privilege and FOI law: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2026/03/30/s... #FOI #Scotland #LPP #FreedomofInformation

The Duke is coneless ... I repeat, the Duke is coneless ... this is not a drill ... Can all available Guardians of the Cone please report to their assigned posts as soon as possible to rectify the situation. #glasgow #dukeofwellington #roadcone #glasgowhumour

Excellent 🧵

Here's the Electoral Commission statement on the police investigation into Gorton & Denton by-election claims. Includes a promise to 'discuss with Democracy Volunteers the definitions they use and the training they give their observers'. www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre...

This statement includes the finding that the behaviour described by the Democracy Volunteers observers (the only source of the allegations) did not even amount to the offence about which they were complaining, and which they told the press they had witnessed. www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater...

Now confirmed here. news.sky.com/story/politi... bsky.app/profile/publ...

Greater Manchester Police has found "no evidence of any intent to influence or refrain any person from voting" in the Gorton and Denton by-election, after Reform made a complaint over alleged "family voting" The investigation looked at potential offences under the Representation of the People Act

⚖️ NEW: Here's our analysis with a scorecard weighing up where the Rycroft Review: ✅ hit the nail on the head with its recommendations 💪 should have been stronger ...and crucially what needs to happen next to protect our democracy ⬇️ www.spotlightcorruption.org/revving-up-a...

Inner House of Court of Session strongly emphasise importance and public interest in upholding legal professional privilege, concluding the Scottish Information Commissioner made "error of law" in ordering Scottish Government disclosure. www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/zzgbx5...

This is a really important point and it will likely depend on the language used by the government in its amendment to ban crypto donations, ie if it includes a neat solution to cover both third payment providers and amounts under £500.

The government have promptly announced the implementation of two of the recommendations in today's Rycroft Review: 1. an annual cap on overseas donations 2. a moratorium on cryptocurrency donations In both cases, I think the government should adopt a bolder legislative strategy (a thread...)

Crypto ban & overseas donation caps to be done by amendment to the Representation of the People Bill at report stage. Gov aims to extend reforms to candidates in Scot Parl & Senedd elections. That's devolved law, so legislative consent will be sought. Reforms won't pass in time to apply in May poll.

Rycroft review looks sensible, but I don't understand why a moratorium on crypto donations to political parties is preferable to a straight ban, not least because a future government could (it looks like) scrap the moratorium whenever it wanted.

This is good in backing up the "actually, we should have an effective rule rather than an ineffective rule" side of the argument www.gov.uk/government/p...

Report recommending cryptocurrency donation ban PM just announced www.gov.uk/government/p...

Keir Starmer confirms suspension of crypto-donations to political parties. “I can tell the house, we will act decisively to protect our democracy – that will include a moratorium on all political donations made through cryptocurrencies.”

BREAKING: Political funding from British citizens living abroad should be capped at about £300,000 a year and donations in cryptocurrency temporarily banned, a government review has recommended.

Remember the law-review author who outsourced his writing to generative AI? The one that made me say, "I now know that neither this attorney’s new article nor their old one is worth reading." He outed himself, and it turns out the article in question is as bad as I predicted. Worse, even. 1/

A new monastic community is starting up within the Scottish Episcopal Church. They're on other social media but not here, and are keen for people interested in their work & way of life to follow their news. www.nazarethcommunity.org

One thing about “voter confidence” as a rationale is that it is manipulable. Harping constantly that you need to respond to imagined voter fraud undermines confidence even though it lacks any empirical foundation. The manufactured lack of confidence then gets used to justify even more regulation.

The Representation of the People Bill is working it's way through Parliament. Here are some ways in which it can be amended to further strengthen democracy: blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Information about these changes is now displayed on Who Can I Vote For. After a Scottish or Welsh postcode is entered, click the 'boundary changes' link to be taken to a map of your new constituency. Try it out: whocanivotefor.co.uk

The cancellation then reinstatement of this year’s local elections in 30 council areas highlights that ministers have too much power over local democracy. This should change, argue @akashpaun.bsky.social and @matthewfright.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/mini...

MSPs have agreed that The Scottish Parliament should elect conveners instead of appointing them through party negotiations. Following a debate led by Standards Convener Martin Whitfield MSP, the Standing Orders will be updated to include a procedure for electing conveners in the next session.

A couple of quibbles with this BBC report on the prospect of a vote on changes to the Immigration Rules. 1. The changes DO require legislation. 2. A vote isn't purely symbolic. It's not much, but it's more than that. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (detail unpacked in mini-thread...)

NEW: Reform's Malcolm Offord is refusing to sack a Holyrood candidate who backed thug Tommy Robinson and called for Muslims to be deported. He said Senga Beresford's views were "fruity" but said in a "former life". The comments were made in 2024.

Yesterday, Reform UK published its manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections. Along the party's policies is a concerning proposal to cut the number of MSPs to 113 📉 Here's what else the party has to say on Scottish democracy 👇 upgradeholyrood.com/2026/03/20/r...

One of Reform UK's Holyrood candidates has been banned from acting as a company director after he diverted tens of thousands of pounds from a taxpayer-backed Covid loan into his personal account. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2595266...

A collection of political party manifestos for the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections - to be updated as they are published.

AI generated hallucinations make one of their first reported appearances in Scottish litigation. Here involving a party vs party case in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court where non-existent case-law was cited raising issues of contempt of court. scotcourts.gov.uk/media/tf3nid...

Scotland has a new Human Rights Tracker. This online tool allows you to explore recommendations made by six UN #HumanRights treaty bodies and filter by theme, human rights issue, affected group. Mentioning it because not many know about it; it isn't being posted on here. humanrightstracker.gov.scot

Interesting: The UK’s three national human rights institutions have warned that weakening protections under the European Convention on Human Rights would risk the rights of everyone in the country👇 🔗 www.heraldscotland.com/news/2594907... via @heraldscotland.bsky.social

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has launched an inquiry into elections & democracy, looking at trust & engagement in the electoral system, the introduction of votes at 16, and concerns over foreign interference and disinformation. The inquiry is called 'Modernising Elections'

Joint Committee on National Security Strategy report today urging Gov to amend Representation of the People Bill to ban crypto currency donations. Bill committee heard the same from Chief Exec of Electoral Commission today. committees.parliament.uk/committee/11...

BREAKING: MSPs reject the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by 69 to 57.

'The party also said the raffle complied with electoral laws, which forbid bribing voters to vote a certain way at an election'. The offence is giving money/gift to a voter to induce the voter to vote or refrain from voting. A Reform-branded utility bill freebie looks like it does that.

Senedd Cymru (Members Accountability & Elections) Bill passed today with a new recall law; & 'world first' law on 'political lies' in form of a duty on Welsh ministers to make regulations prohibiting false or misleading statements of fact/deliberate deception in elections.

The UK in a period of "autocratization", according to the V-Dem Democracy Report 2026 v-dem.net/publications...

Holyrood should follow the Senedd and return to four-year terms to improve democratic accountability 👇 upgradeholyrood.com/2023/12/01/t...

Westminster Hall debate this afternoon, triggered by an e-petition calling for automatic by-elections whenever an MP defects to another party. Some (sceptical) background reading (by me) here: swingometer.substack.com/p/waka-waka-...