Letter: Unfair votes

Sir: Cecil Parkinson argues against any change of the voting system on the grounds that PR leads to deals being stitched together by parties and politicians choosing who is in power. Does he have in mind a Tory government losing its majority through by-elections, floor-crossings and withdrawing the whip from Euro-rebels, and then having to make a deal with the Ulster Unionists?

The assumption that a change in the voting system would lead to a hung parliament is wrong. In the 1997 election the Alternative Vote would have led to Labour having a much larger majority than they enjoy at present, and even the Single Transferrable Vote would lead to a small Labour majority.

Governments, even coalition ones, have to face the electorate. If people do not want a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition then the obvious response is to vote Conservative.

GRAHAM RICHARD POINTER

St Andrews, Fife