Only electoral reform can clean up UK’s discredited politics – Yorkshire Post Letters

WHATEVER disdain one holds for Dominic Cummings many of the things he said we knew to be correct.

One of these was that the binary choice at the last election in 2019 proved that the electoral system in Britain was broken.

It has been widely quoted that at that election in England, it took approximately 38,000 votes to elect a Tory MP, 51,000 votes for a Labour MP, 334,000 for a Liberal Democrat and a staggering 865,000 for a Green MP.

The only other country in Europe with a “first past the post” system is that paradigm of democratic probity: Belarus.

The proposed boundary changes, voter identification/suppression and the regression to first past the post for mayoral elections are likely to consolidate the present situation.

We are in desperate need of consensus: a good example of this, for instance, is in relation to the reform of social care.

The recent political change in Israel, where a coalition of diametrically opposed parties has come together for common purpose, shows what can be achieved.

What is required here in Great Britain is a progressive alliance of parties to come together, agreeing not to oppose each other at the next general election, on a joint manifesto to introduce proportional representation by the time of the following election.

Surely, it is only then, when all of our votes matter, that we can really be proud again of our democracy?

From: Richard Wilson, chair, Leeds for Europe, Riverside Way, Leeds.

LEEDS for Europe isn’t party political and I’m not a Labour Party member. But, while our members are free to keep any party affiliation to themselves, it’s unsurprising that the self-proclaimed progressive and internationalist Labour Party is well represented amongst our supporters, in this Remain-voting city.

One of those Labour Party members has drawn my attention to an email received from leader Sir Keir Starmer inviting submissions to the party’s 2021 National Policy Forum.

These are under eight topics but, incredibly, the UK’s future relationship with Europe is not mentioned.

Until Labour shows that it understands that Brexit isn’t working and starts to deliver some proposals to improve matters, disillusion with the party is likely to fester and the party’s prospects of a return to power will recede.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.