David Cameron may find he has inherited a poisoned chalice. A national poll reveals that 62% want Proportional Representation. He will be up against about 310 opponents who have despised Tory policy for 5 years and whose combined numbers under PR would probably have amounted to over 400 seats. He will have a critical electorate who will be angered at his continuing power through FPTP when only about 20% of us voted for him. My suggestion is that he immediately institutes a referendum on PR before he has to deal with an extreme crisis of confidence. 80% of us are very unhappy!

The Chancellor’s economic policy has been strange. It is futile subsidising wages which are too small to live on; the books need balancing by progressive taxation. 1% of the population owned more than half of the other 99% in 2010. They have since doubled their money. Cash doesn’t ‘trickle down’; currently, it gets sucked up and stowed away and if the rich won’t use it, they should lose it! Persecuting the out-of-work is pointless if there are no jobs and bedroom-taxation creates more out-goings in benefits and health problems than it brings in. Putting off investment in our infrastructure is rather like being out of work and staying in bed while the roof is leaking.

My advice to the Chancellor is to increase the minimum wage to £10 per hour and legalise it, institute progressive personal taxation to 50% over £0.5 million p.a. and 75% over £1 million p.a., eliminate tax evasion, tax avoidance and domicile status, halt the privatisation and use of management consultants in the NHS. Instead reward internal initiatives, reduce the use of agency nurses and employ those and doctors directly, reduce management and reward staff initiatives. Invest in brownfield housing at £2 billion a year and rent it out at a reasonable rate of return. Create infrastructure jobs in new projects while cash is cheap to borrow and sensible to do so.

The people of WDDC’s towns, also victims of FPTP, will continue to be treated like Tolpuddle Martyrs although there are signs that enough is enough. Tory politicians who appear only rarely from the countryside, sheepishly raise their hands in favour of their executive cartel, ignoring their remaining colleagues with different views of reality. I recommend everyone gets behind the Public First Group and signs their petition for a change to democratic local governance before it is too late! It needs your readers’ support to continue to give them a voice at local meetings and hopefully fight together for PR.

Mike Joslin

Garfield Avenue

Dorchester