I TOTALLY agree with John Riseley of Harrogate (HAS, Sept 30) who calls for a reform of our voting procedures to bring them into the 21st Century.

Not only do we the voters deserve a decent and fair system of electing our Governments, we also desperately need a complete overhaul of the way we are governed.

At the present this archaic 19th Century shambolic excuse for democracy keeps blundering along costing us billions of pounds not only in cash but wasted time and effort.

Just consider the poll tax, the Child Support Agency, the Millenium Dome fiasco, tax credits, various National Health reorganisations, student fees and the next big elephant trap waiting to be sprung – HS2.

However, I feel that all political parties will not entertain doing things differently – which would not be hard to do and would certainly save the country untold billions of pounds, disorganisation and hardships – because it would mean having to relinquish their badly-abused powers.

At the end of the day that’s all they want, power.

M Hawkins, Durham