You won’t achieve real change with a protest vote

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Change will only happen when principled leaders come to realise that a reform of governance lies in the nation’s long-term interest and are prepared to present the case to the electorate (PA)

Whilst I agree with Susan Alexander that electoral reform and a move to proportional representation is in the nation’s long-term interests, the more pressing need is for the electorate to rid itself of a Conservative government that has impaired most aspects of the nation’s politics for 14 years.

The nation will be best served if the electorate votes tactically in order to remove as many Conservative MPs as possible. Any votes cast that do not have this end in mind are no more than protest votes that may be to the advantage of our discredited government.

It is worth remembering that the coalition government’s referendum on proportional representation did not have the desired outcome. Change will only happen when principled leaders come to realise that a reform of governance lies in the nation’s long-term interest and are prepared to present the case to the electorate. All of which depends on politicians doing what the Conservatives seem incapable of doing, by putting the nation’s best interests before those of the party. We can but live in hope.