Welcome to McDougall Trust

McDougall is the independent charitable trust that promotes public understanding of electoral democracy.

McDougall Trust exists to advance knowledge and understanding of, and research into, the forms, functions and development of electoral democracy.

McDougall has developed a longstanding focus on representative institutions, voting systems and elections, whether in government at local, regional, national and international level, or in other bodies, such as political parties, companies, trade unions, community groups, charities and other voluntary organisations.

McDougall's Main Activities, through which its purposes are carried out either directly or via arrangements with others, are:

REPRESENTATION Journal of Representative Democracy is McDougall Trust's unattributed peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in association with Taylor & Francis, see: Representation | Taylor & Francis Online (tandfonline.com);

Archives and other collections : maintaining McDougall's collections of historic archives, pamphlets, books, personal correspondence and other materials on representative democracy including elections and electoral issues (this contains the Enid Lakeman electoral studies library).

In late 2023 the Trust was pleased to reach an agreement to deposit the archive collection at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. It is not currently available to the public, pending sorting and cataloguing work.

Encouraging, supporting, or providing :

research within the field of electoral democracy and the dissemination of its useful outcomes;

relevant online resources - papers and other media, including Workshop summaries and videos, plus the extensive Voting matters online resources on preferential voting systems, see: Voting matters (mcdougall.org.uk);

funding for the annual McDougall Trust Research Prize;

occasional resourcing support such as grants towards projects in the fields of representative democracy and electoral studies.

McDougall's potential audiences include policy makers, legislators, election organisers, election monitors, researchers, political scientists, historians, teachers, academics, pollsters, students, reformers, campaigners, activists, journalists, commentators, leaders, members, selectors, candidates, all those in institutions and associations that aspire to democracy or use election processes, and anyone interested in how democratic societies are - or could be - governed.

McDougall Trust - Promoting public understanding of electoral democracy.

McDougall Trust is independently run and funded. It welcomes legacies and other donations in support of its charitable work.

Charity No. 212151 (Registered as Arthur McDougall Fund)

www.mcdougall.org.uk

contact@mcdougall.org.uk

News ...

20 Mar 2025

McDougall Trust Appoints 2 New Trustees

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.”

McDougall's occasional blog

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

By: Tom Walsh

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.

REPRESENTATION
Journal of Representative Democracy

McDougall Trust's quarterly journal published in association with Taylor & Francis

Support for Research and Information Dissemination, including grant making

McDougall Trust encourages research and information dissemination in the field of electoral democracy.

See activities supported by McDougall Trust grant making.

McDougall Trust