Proportional representation sorely needed

Sir, - Ongoing and deep-rooted divisions within the Labour Party, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, re-emphasise the need for reform of the UK’s first-past-thepost electoral system.

It is clear that the Labour Party needs to split (you cannot have a political party where the majority of MPs are fundamentally at odds with the party leader and ordinary members).

Yet everyone knows if a split happens under the current electoral system, then political wipeout would result.

The two main political parties occupy a privileged position in the UK political system, due to the way the first-pastthe-post voting system is biased against smaller parties (and, effectively, awards all bar a token number of seats to the two biggest parties).

In return, the current voting system places implied onus on the main opposition party to do its job properly by attracting the majority of disaffected voters. Without this, the system becomes inherently unfair, as votes for smaller parties are effectively ignored.

However, as evidenced by the fragmentation of the UK political system and growth of the smaller parties, the main opposition parties have failed in this obligation.

We have arrived at the insanely undemocratic situation where the LibDems, Greens and Ukip between them achieved 25% of the popular vote in the last (May 2015) general election but won just 1.5% of the parliamentary seats. What’s more, the Lib Dems won eight times as many seats as Ukip, even though Ukip had almost twice as many votes. Meanwhile, the SNP won 95% of 2015 Scottish Westminster seats with just 50% of the popular vote. This inherently unfair result brings the whole concept of UK democracy into disrepute, and it is now clear there needs to be reform of the UK voting system and a move towards a more proportional voting system that is fairer to smaller parties. Mark CampbellRoddis. Pont Crescent, Dunblane.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.