IoS letters, emails and online postings (31 January 2016)

A pledge by the left-of-centre parties to bring in proportional representation would give every voter a say (AFP/Getty)

The report of talks between the leadership of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats on a fair voting system in which every vote counts is something we welcome (“Lib Dems and Labour in secret talks on voting reform”, 24 January). By working together, we believe it’s possible to transform British politics – and that a fairer voting system will help deliver a fairer Britain.

Last year’s general election delivered an extremely unrepresentative House of Commons. A third of voters backed neither Labour nor Conservative, yet their votes translated into 13 per cent of MPs. The Conservatives achieved a majority on 37 per cent of the votes cast. This is plainly unjust and undemocratic.

Moves by the Government threaten to make matters worse. They are making it harder for people to register to vote, and reducing the number of constituencies, so undermining the value of individual votes further in most seats. They are attacking research funding for opposition parties, particularly smaller parties, that enables them to stand up for their voters and hold the Government to account.

We would like to see Labour, the Lib Dems and the parties we represent, join together at the next general election in a manifesto pledge to introduce proportional representation for the Commons. This would give every voter a say in future elections and provide a mandate for early legislation. Meanwhile, we’ll be talking to citizens and political leaders alike about how this pledge can be achieved.

Caroline Lucas MP
Green Party

Angus Robertson MP
Westminster Leader of the SNP

Hywel Williams MP
Westminster Leader of Plaid Cymru

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In “Syria’s endless civil war is at a decisive point” (24 January), Patrick Cockburn puts forward unfounded allegations about Turkey.

Daesh (Islamic State) and al-Nusra have long been on Turkey’s list of terrorist organisations. Turkey itself has been a victim of Daesh with various terrorist acts. One only has to look at the bombings in Reyhanli, Ankara and Istanbul. Moreover, Turkey has been at the forefront in stopping the flow of extremists into Syria, as the co-chair of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters working group within the anti-Daesh international coalition. The Turkish military started its operations against Daesh targets in Syria even before its UK counterpart. Since the beginning of 2015, 1,709 individuals, including 556 foreign nationals, have been detained and 474 persons have been arrested due to their affiliation with Daesh.

The Syrian Kurdish PYD, and its armed wing, YPG, do not share the West’s vision for Syria’s future. Their acts, in violation of international law, against the Arab and Turkoman populations in northern Syria, such as “forced displacement” and “unlawful demolition” of houses, were documented by Amnesty International’s October 2015 report.

Abdurrahman Bilgiç
Ambassador, Republic of Turkey
London SW1

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Geoffrey Lean has laid bare the duplicitous nature of the Government’s energy policy in trashing renewables to achieve minimal savings for consumers, while saddling the UK with massive subsidies to keep nuclear afloat (“Consumers are dying for lower bills”, 17 January; “‘Panic’ over nuclear safety”, 24 January). However, the Big Six have done more than just connive in this deception. They have played a major role in preventing progress towards a low-carbon future.

Thus they have provided up to 50 experts in Whitehall, whereas the renewables sector has no representatives in government. Greg Barker, the minister at the Department for Energy and Climate Change responsible for implementing the Green Deal, has accused the Big Six of sabotaging the programme. Talking on Radio 4 (You and Yours, 2 March 2015) he said the energy companies had done nothing apart from fulfilling their statutory obligation to fuel-poor households. The only reason the Government reached its targets was because of input from smaller eco-friendly firms.

It was extremely naive for the coalition to have devolved responsibility for the Green Deal to companies whose main purpose is to sell as much energy as possible.

Dr Robin Russell-Jones
Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire