Is apathy the only reason that 63% of those eligible to vote did not turn out and do so in the recent local and European elections?

‘Apathy is the winner’ (Letters, June 3).

Could it be that nothing ever changes no matter who is elected?

If 100% of us voted, would dangerous traffic junctions be remedied? Pot-holed roads be repaired? Harbour walls no longer left to decay? Would derelict iconic buildings spring back to life?

At national level it is said that pensioners (of which I’m one) are more likely to vote than any other age group, but is this more in hope than reality?

Taking one example looking back more than 40 years. I see neither of the two main parties that governed during this time willing to grasp the nettle of means-tested benefits, with the result that anyone during this period on average earnings is no better off today in old age, no matter how much they saved, than someone who saved nothing at all. This failure to act has left millions of pensioners living in near-poverty.

To pile on the misery, those in power broke the state pension link with earnings while ensuring that they had a pension scheme in place the rest of us could only dream of. What I also see is politicians fiddling their expenses and ceding all responsibility to unelected foreigners.

The list of broken electoral promises and failures to act is endless. Is it not amazing that the opposition parties have all the answers to our woes? Until they win. No, apathy is not the only reason many people withhold their vote!

Rodney Best, Doncaster Road, Weymouth