Upgrading Democracy?

Rachel Sylvester is Political Editor of The Observer. She was previously a columnist and interviewer at The Times and chair of The Times Education, Health and Crime and Justice Commissions. She was named political journalist of the year at the British Press Awards in 2016 and 2017.

Cat Smith is the Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre, having served continuously since 2015, representing the Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency until 2024. Between 2016 and 2021, she served in the shadow cabinet in a role which covered Democracy and Elections, taking part in legislation from the Elections Act to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act. After returning to the backbenches, she was a member and spokesperson for the Speakers Committee on the Electoral Commission until the 2024 general election. She is an advocate for electoral reform within the Labour Party and has spoken regularly in favour of votes at 16.

The Rt Hon Tom Brake is the Director of Unlock Democracy which campaigns for reforms in the UK including proportional representation and House of Lords reform.He was formerly Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesman and MP for Carshalton and Wallington.He also served as a local Councillor on Hackney and Sutton Councils.

He read physics at Imperial College, London and went to school in France and is a French speaker. He is a longstanding trustee of Ecolocal which delivers a broad range of environmental sustainability services that are designed to help people move toward more pro-environmental behaviours and advises Bioregional, an award-winning sustainability organisation which developed the One Planet Living framework. To take his mind off things, he runs and swims.

Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve KC PC is a British barrister and former politician who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. His work as Attorney General has been in the field of Public and Constitutional Law with cases in the Supreme Court, European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. He was elected Conservative MP for Beaconsfield on 1 May 1997. Dominic held a number of positions in the shadow cabinet including Shadow Attorney General and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. He was Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from 2015-2019.

Dominic was educated at Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied modern history. He has recently completed a review of governance for Islamic Relief Worldwide, a leading humanitarian charity. He is a visiting professor in Law, Politics and Human Rights at Goldsmiths, London University and a member of the Northern Ireland Bar. He is currently Barrister at Law at Temple Garden Chambers.

Paris is the Squad Community Manager at My Life My Say (MLMS), a youth-led, a non-partisan charity committed to increasing political engagement and strengthening democratic participation among underrepresented young people across the UK. In her role, she leads the Squad leadership programme, building and supporting a national community of young changemakers and creating spaces for them to develop their confidence, campaigns and political voice.