The State of UK Parliamentary Democracy: What Must Change at Westminster?
This lecture will take stock of the state of the UK’s parliamentary democracy.
Stevenson Trust, Social Sciences hub
Date: Tuesday 20 October 2026
Time: 18:00 - 19:30
Venue: The Humanities Lecture Theatre The Gilbert Scott Building University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ
Category: Public lectures, Social events, Academic events, Student events, Alumni events
Speaker: Ruth Fox
This lecture will take stock of the state of the UK’s parliamentary democracy. At the centre of that assessment must be the Westminster Parliament: the principal representative institution at the heart of our democratic system. Against a rapidly changing economic, geopolitical and technological backdrop, the lecture will consider whether Parliament is equipped to meet the challenges now confronting the country and what reforms are needed to demonstrate that parliamentary democracy can adapt and deliver, rather than cede ground to political forces that exploit public disillusionment and have little regard for the principles, conventions and constraints on which parliamentary democracy depends.