Our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent and beyond.

Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking here. Join the debate by emailing letters@thekmgroup.co.uk

Voting system unfair despite clear result

It was interesting to read the number of correspondents prepared to defend our First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system.

For example, Brian Barnard who gave readers a projection of what the result would have been if we had some form of proportional representation (PR) which revealed that Labour would have had 219 seats, the Conservatives 154, Lib Dems 79 and Reform 93. It seems clear from this that Labour would seek a coalition with the Lib Dems, whilst the Tories and Reform would probably create a loose alliance to become the official opposition.

However, that still leaves over 100 seats in the hands of smaller parties such as the Greens, Scottish Nationalists, Plaid Cymru, Independents and MPs from the Northern Ireland parties, so although FPTP is not perfect, on most occasions, it tends to produce a more clear-cut result, with the majority party forming the government and the party that comes second becoming the official opposition.

That said; where I am not entirely comfortable with FPTP is when studying the vote share in relation to the number of seats secured. In this latest general election, the Lib Dems attracted just a mere 12% vote share, but that translated into 72 seats, whereas Reform with a higher vote share achieved just five; and Labour secured over 400 from only just over a third of the vote share.

There will be many who will be saying that is simply unfair and I am inclined to agree with them.

It also throws up the question: After achieving the greatest number of seats ever under our FPTP system, will the Lib Dems continue to campaign for PR now, or will they simply abandon it as a policy as the party has been prepared to do with many of its other policies when it suits them?

C. Aichgy

Not a vote of confidence in Labour

Labour didn't win the general election - the Tories lost it.

Labour got 34% of the votes but took 63% of the seats on a record-low 60% turnout. In the last 100 years only the elections of 2001 (59.4%) and 1918 (57.2%) achieved lower turnouts. In fact, Labour got fewer votes in 2024 than it did in 2019 when Corbyn was leader (9.7m as against 10.3m).

Likewise, the Lib Dems’ vote only increased marginally from 3.5 million to 3.7 million.

It was the Tory vote that collapsed; more than halved, down from 14 million to 6.8 milllion. Even the bluest of the blue jumped ship to sink the hapless Sunak.

Reform UK is now the third largest party with 14% of the vote but only 1% of the seats, overtaking the Lib Dems with 12% of the vote and 11% of the seats (i.e. five seats versus 72).

I challenge anyone to defend the absurdity and iniquity of the current First Past The Post system. A representative system is supposed to represent the people but evidently does not. Millions of voters feel excluded and disfranchised.

My solution? Abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a second chamber based on some form of Proportional Representation. It would have no executive powers but be able to initiate, amend or repeal legislation in conjunction with the other chamber (and keep in check).

While PR is not an all-round panacea, it would at least be a step in the right direction and an improvement on the current set-up.

John Helm

Election not a true reflection of voters’ views

Starmer has the keys to the Kingdom - despite having got only 35% of votes, but still gained 64% of Parliament’s 650 seats.

The Conservatives got 24% of the votes, but only 18% of the seats!

If that’s democracy at work, I’m a monkey’s uncle!

Proportional representation is the only truly fair way of gauging the views of the electorate.

And Labour’s win wasn’t a ‘landslide’. Putin had a landslide victory with 88% of votes and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un did even better with 100%. Now those really were landslides!

Bob Readman

Farage voters knew what they wanted

Other political parties, newspapers and the media in general are all blaming the downfall of the Conservatives on Nigel Farage.

To me this is totally unfair and intimates that we, the electorate, don’t know what we are voting for.

As someone who voted Conservative most of his life, I certainly knew what I was doing and so did millions of other ordinary people who were cheated out of having more MPs in Parliament by our electoral system.

Labour are in power because of the reluctance of the Tories to grab the bull by the horns and stop immigration, which they promised to do, so please stop blaming Nigel Farage.

Eventually the people of our country will get the message. I admire Farage’s fortitude and resilience against the doom-mongers who I’m sure will ruin our country.

Sid Anning

Don’t give vote to 16-year-olds

Sir Keir Starmer, as with all previous PMs, has a big job on his hands and I wish him well.

But my main concern is whether he is serious about 16-year-olds having the right to vote.

Few if any, at that age, have an interest in or understanding of politics and will surely vote as suggested to them by parents with an equally poor understanding.

If such were to occur, I doubt there will ever be another change of government, however necessary it may become.

David Line

Voters were turned off by Tories

In his letter of praise for the achievements of ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Bob Readman inflated the magnitude of his achievements in his two years as Chancellor during the pandemic.

Mr Readman says that when Sunak became Chancellor in 2020 and Prime Minister in 2022, he had to deal ‘with rebuilding an economy that was still recovering from the disastrous economic policies of the last Labour Government’. Now the last Labour government, led by Gordon Brown, had lost power 10 years before this and in the intervening period there had been four successive Conservative prime ministers. What had they been doing to rebuild the economy?

It is true that Sunak’s furlough scheme, which cost the country £70 billion, is widely regarded as a success, despite the fact that HM Revenue and Customs suggest that £4 billion were fraudulently claimed.

There is, however, no comparison with Sunak’s actions and those of Churchill during the six years of the Second World War when he brilliantly led the British nation in its existential fight against Nazi Germany.

He states that both leaders were ‘kicked in the teeth by an ungrateful nation’ when they were defeated in their respective general elections.

During the war, Churchill had led a National Government and when the voters went to the polls at the end of the War in 1945 they were given the choice of a Conservative or Labour government for the first time in six years. In this situation Labour presented its more attractive and persuasive ideas. The Conservatives by contrast were bereft of new ideas.

The British electorate have never kicked any Prime Minister in the teeth. In 2024 as in 1945, voters examined the policies and plans of both major parties over the next five and without a fuss, calmly delivered their verdict.

John Cooper

We rely too much on imports

We stand to lose 49% of our horticultural farms over the next few years due to successive government policies.

The UK shockingly only grows 17% of the fresh fruit we eat. This leaves us vulnerable to fluctuations in cost and supply. It also leaves public health in a dire state.

A substantial increase in fruit and veg consumption is needed, which requires a reliable supply of healthy, fresh produce. Yet, we are presently over-reliant on imports. Supporting homegrown production is key to addressing these interconnected issues.

The Labour government is to build a further 1.6 million more new houses in league with profit-making international housing consortiums. These houses are not for the homeless and not for those who cannot afford a home. They are for investment purposes.

They lie to us when they tell us there is a housing crisis. All this building will destroy yet more farmland and nature, and make us even more reliant on imports.

Sylvia Petersen, The Heritage Party

New estates are counter-productive

Building housing estates on agricultural land and the countryside to boost economic growth makes as much sense as burning your furniture and the front door to combat rising energy costs.

Derek Wisdom

Help give cats a better life

With kitten season now in full swing across the UK, I would like to say a huge thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for helping us look after kittens and cats in need.

Last year we saw a 14% increase in unwanted litters coming into our care. This summer and beyond, we anticipate hundreds of kittens needing to be looked after by our expert teams.

We work hard to be there for every cat that needs us. For mother cats and kittens, this includes extra food to keep cats’ energy levels high after giving birth as well as regular veterinary check-ups for mum and her litter. Our teams also hand-feed newborn kittens if the mother isn’t producing enough milk.

This is why we are so grateful to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for raising more than £9.9 million to support the work of Cats Protection since 2018. Together we are making a better life for cats, because life is better with cats.

Anyone wishing to adopt a cat or support Cats Protection, or seeking advice on cat welfare, can find out more at cats.org.uk

John May, chief executive, Cats Protection