YP Letters: Outdated voting system is at the root of our political woes

AT least part of the Government’s problems over the EU can be put down to the country being shackled to an outdated and discredited voting system. The coalition demonstrated that compromise in Government can curb extremism leading to effective conduct of affairs.

The introduction of PR would replace a flawed and unrepresentative system with a fair and truly democratic process in which every vote would carry equal weight and significance. First past the post leads to piles of wasted votes in 500 odd seats, while the real action is concentrated in a hundred or so others. Here there is ample scope for fraud and cynical exploitation of local issues. The result is a completely distorted and unrepresentative outcome which may or may not produce a decisive outcome but does not reflect the true balance of opinion in the country as a whole.

To move to PR would not be a leap in the dark. We have already experienced a full five years of effective Government by coalition. Similar methods have been in use on the Continent for years, not to mention here in London and of course in the EU elections. The PM obviously prefers to get his own way but will always be frustrated by the extreme right on his own benches.

From: Chris Giddings, Springwood Drive, Halifax.

REFERRING to the letter from Peter Hyde (The Yorkshire Post, December 19), I wrote to this newspaper on January 27, 2010, before the General Election of that year. It seems that despite the change in political colours over the years we are no nearer finding a Prime Minister who is capable of leading this country and asserting our rights and laws to protect us and our economy.

The EU may well have had its good points in the early years, but has now surpassed itself with its undemocratic and federalist ways which will eventually destroy it.

My letter of January 2010 was in response to a column written at the time by the author, Gervase Phinn, his final comment was “How I long to hear another Winston Churchill in the coming months”. The same applies now.

From: H Marjorie Gill, Menston.

REGARDING British membership of the European Union, I have come to the conclusion that we should vote to leave because the amount of corruption and bribery is absolutely staggering.