Many alliances have weakened Lib Dems

RE the letter from Norman Bathurst regarding a proportional voting system.

Welcome back to the letters’ columns Norman, we’ve been having this exchange of views about Proportional Representation for many years and my feeling is still that the main reason the Lib Dems support PR is that they think that they are unable to win a General Election outright by themselves under the current system which, for all its faults, usually produces a clear winner and not an endless coalition.

The original Liberal Party was once a powerful force in politics but gradually gave ground to the up and coming Labour party (which was only formed in 1900) in the 1920’s until it formed a Lib/Lab pact in

1977 and afterwards morphed into the SDP/Liberal Alliance in the 1980’s, before becoming the Lib Dems, and went into a coalition with the Conservatives in 2010.

So with all these ‘alliances’ perhaps voters are still not sure what they really stand for and see them as a party who will support any of the two main parties if it gives them some influence.

Perhaps instead of trying to change the system, they should be asking themselves why this is so, and ask themselves whether producing some firm policies of their own might be more productive than performing silly stunts with cardboard cannons and egg timers for the news programmes and constantly sniping at the other parties from the sidelines.

While there are a number of constituencies that are staunchly Labour or Conservative and may never change, I really do not see why it should take eight times as many votes to elect a Lib Dem candidate as it does for a Conservative.

There are 650 constituencies in the UK and the Lib Dems could contest each and every one of those seats if they wish; it is then up to their individual candidate and their supporters to put forward the party’s manifesto to the voting public and let them decide who they want to represent them in Parliament.

Paul Mercer West Devon