Electoral reform and PR will restore integrity to our broken politics after polling day – Yorkshire Post Letters

AS the country struggles to find a suitable party to vote for, I would like to suggest the following.

Donald Trump playbook explains why Boris Johnson can’t answer questions of trust – Andrew Vine

To introduce proportional representation for our voting system, which would allow small political parties an opportunity to bring new ideas to Parliament. The ‘first past the post’ system allows a political party to govern with as little as 40 per cent of the votes cast which is farcical in any democracy.

Broken trust is now the graver political crisis at Parliament than Boris Johnson and Brexit – Tom Richmond

I am tired of hearing that we must protect our borders from the constant wave of migrants seeking a better life, when we refuse to do what many other countries do, which is to have compulsory ID cards. We cannot continue to have a succession of weak minority governments who cannot be punished by the voters. They hide behind the ‘first past the post’ system, and we can only watch as the country struggles to find its place in a rapidly changing world.

From: Brian Soulsby, Cookridge, Leeds.

THE denying of parental and self-directed choice by Labour, in the key life issue of education and related social association, is intrinsically in denial of our cultural heritage of British values. Where will this lead us?

It is nothing short of blatant social engineering to underpin the determination to push Britain into a terminally-alien, stifled social culture and oligarch-dominated economic culture, in the guise of delivering free-for-all equality.

Surely our prized heritage of freedoms and protections is not for a U-turn surrender to Marxist ideology? Overall, the manifesto is in denial of our incalculable debt of loyalty to our military and allies, intelligence services and, indeed, to all who have defended national security.

From: Mr R Turner, Hollybank Avenue, Upper Cumberworth, Huddersfield.

I FULLY agreed with the first two comments by Canon Michael Storey (The Yorkshire Post, November 26) over the attitudes of Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon. But then he loses the plot completely by stating that Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has a genuine wish to get it right for everyone by staying in Europe. Surely the Canon meant the minority – or is he another who chooses to disregard democracy and betray Britain?

From: David Craggs, Shafton Gate, Goldthorpe, Rotherham.

I VOTED Remain for one reason, and that was my country’s future security (take note, you young voters). An unstable EU could quickly develop into an unstable Europe. Going back to the Cold War, I have always been suspicious of the-then Soviet Union and now Russia, and I do not want to be solely dependent on America for the security of the UK. One gets the impression that President Trump is not 100 per cent behind NATO and this is surely a cause for concern.

From: Jeff Coupe, Park Road, Bawtry, Doncaster.

ALTHOUGH the word ‘democracy’ has taken a pasting in recent months, one thing is certain – how to vote in all types of elections in the UK has always been a personal choice and must remain so.

But the sudden intervention of former Tory deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine, suggesting voters should vote Lib Dem, surely gives rise to a certain level of annoyance and this simple question: is this late intervention less to do with thwarting Brexit, and more to do with protecting the £90,000 annual land subsidies he receives from the EU?

Get rid of all council CEOs

From: Jerry Diccox, Main Street, Darley.

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the suggestion of Josh Horne (The Yorkshire Post, November 30) to abolish the post of chief executive within local authorities, and I cannot understand why the public are not demanding this en masse.

Perhaps people are not aware of the eye-watering salaries and expense bills the executives enjoy, typically equivalent to 70 times a Band D council tax bill. Or maybe they believe that councils could not function without them, a claim that would be hilarious to the hard-working council staff who work for them.

Or perhaps they’re willing to accept the empty cliche that local authorities must pay high salaries to attract the right people. Rather, I believe the ugly situation exists purely because it has evolved unchallenged, with annual salary increases and benefits packages going unnoticed for decades.

It’s time to call time on this extravagance. With their inflated salaries and expenses bills, these CEOs have forgotten that they are public servants, and behave more like captains of industry.

In many cases they hide away from the media, and so are never held to account, and the people who pay their salaries would find it hard to name them, let alone tell you what they do.

Their sky-high salaries are only justified by reference to the team of over-paid, self-justifying executives that exists underneath them, the whole thing constituting a money-sapping gravy-train of mutual back-slapping, and not much else. Get rid of them all.

If these people want to drive around in Bentleys and crave six figure salaries, then let them go and work in industry – taxpayers can no longer afford to indulge them.

Local authorities will function just as well, if not better, without them and there would be a lot more money to spend on services and useful staff.