I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in the letter from Ross Hemingway and Maeve Tomlinson (The peaceful revolution starts here, May 28).

I voted Green, but my vote, like those of millions of people throughout the UK, had no practical effect.

It is simply a fact that, under our undemocratic electoral system, vast numbers of people are effectively disenfranchised.

Decades ago, when politics was dominated almost exclusively by the Conservative and Labour monoliths, the first past the post system may have been acceptable.

Now, political views in this country have become much more diverse and nuanced, and we need an electoral system that reflects that.

It is, frankly, scandalous that now the Tories have carte blanche to do what they will with this country, having been supported by less than a quarter of the electorate.

They exult in their unearned victory, while the less than inspiring line-up of candidates for the Labour Party leadership look only backwards.

We need to look ahead. Ross and Maeve are right when they say that, under a proportional system, the Greens would have 25 parliamentary seats, but even that is an underestimate, because you cannot accurately extrapolate figures from an undemocratic to a democratic system.

Many more people would vote for the Greens and other parties if they knew their votes would mean something, rather than voting tactically or not at all.

All progressive political organisations and unprogressive ones as well – UKIP’s supporters should be properly and accurately represented too – should have as their number one, unshakeable priority reform of the electoral system, which has remained fossilised for far too long and serves only to cement in power those who already have power. Nothing is more important politically.

Nothing meaningful can be achieved without it. Let us turn the UK from a sham democracy into a real one.

BRIAN RICHES
Sutton