Current system is strangling democracy

Western Daily Press, 10 June 2024, p. 11

Andy Swain (Should we all be voting tactically?, June 7) is absolutely right.

The current electoral system is utterly corrupt; and the two main parties, Conservative and Labour, share a vested interest in continuing to ensure that they have the system stitched up between them.

I remember writing to the Eastern Daily Press in 2005, protesting about a general election outcome whereby the then Blair-led Labour Party won a substantial Commons majority whilst garnering the support of less than one in four of the registered voters. Outrageously undemocratic and unrepresentative!

Given that neither Conservative nor Labour will ever change this iniquitous system, there are several things that true democrats can do.

1 Vote tactically, as Andy Swain advises.

2 Vote for ANY party other than Conservative and Labour.

3 Independent candidates can stand for election and then urge voters in their constituency to vote for another good candidate not representing one of the two main parties.

Readers might be able to come up with other ideas whereby together, we can subvert the current anti-democratic stitch-up.

If enough of us do one or more of these things, we can break the collusive party system and its stranglehold over our democracy, that all true democrats – left, right or centre – rightly despise.

So, let’s make a start on July 4 – by voting for any party other than Conservative or Labour.

Dr Richard House

Stroud, Gloucestershire

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