Democratic Audit

Stuart has been Director of Democratic Audit since May 2009. His principal areas of expertise include electoral integrity, electoral registration, local government and local democracy, and the funding of UK political parties.  Prior to joining the Audit, Stuart had completed a major study of the state of local democracy for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (2006) and produced a high-profile report on the integrity of the UK electoral process for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (2008).  Since joining the Audit, Stuart has authored or co-authored a number of reports, including a recent report on party funding reform, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (2010).

Stuart is also Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Liverpool. Stuart’s recent academic publications include papers on the electoral advance of the BNP (in Parliamentary Affairs) and the legacies of electoral modernisation in the UK (in The Political Quarterly). In 2009-10, he was the ESRC-sponsored Research Fellow at the Electoral Commission, acting as the lead author on the Commission’s report on the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers.

Stuart is a frequent commentator on matters concerning UK democracy in the UK and international media and is regularly invited to speak on his areas of expertise at conferences, seminars and other events. He has been invited on a number of occasions to give evidence to Parliamentary select committees, local government scrutiny panels and other official inquiries into aspects of democracy at the national and sub-national level.

Publications

Blick, A. and Wilks-Heeg S. (2010) Governing without majorities: coming to terms with balanced Parliaments in UK politics, General Election Briefing #1, Liverpool, Democratic Audit.

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2010) A tale of two electorates: why some voters are more equal than others, General Election Briefing #2, Liverpool: Democratic Audit.

Wilks-Heeg S and Crone S. (2010) Funding Political Parties in Great Britain: A Pathway to Reform, Liverpool, Democratic Audit.

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2010) A slow and painful death? Political parties and local democracy in two northern towns, Local Government Studies, 36 (3), pp. 381-400.

Weir, S. and Wilks-Heeg, S. (2010) The Unspoken Constitution, Liverpool: Democratic Audit.

Wilks-Heeg S, and Blick A. (2009) What are European elections for?. Liverpool, Democratic  Audit.

Wilks-Heeg S, and Blick A. (2009) What are local elections for?. Liverpool, Democratic Audit

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2009) The canary in a coalmine? Explaining the emergence of the British National Party in English local politics, Parliamentary Affairs, 62 (3).

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2009) Treating voters as an afterthought? The legacies of a decade of electoral modernisation in the United Kingdom, The Political Quarterly, 80 (1), pp. 101-110.

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2009) New Labour and the reform of English local government, 1997-2007: privatising the parts that Conservative governments could not reach?, Planning Practice and Research, 24 (1), pp. 23-40.

Wilks-Heeg, S. (2008) Purity of Elections in the UK: Causes for Concern, York: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.