SIR – This week I’m going on hunger strike in support of the campaign for Proportional Representation (PR).

This initiative of Make Votes Matter is intended to draw attention to the injustice of a voting system that denies representation to millions, returns Parliaments that don’t reflect the voters’ views, and gives us governments that most of us didn’t vote for.

I will fast from 8pm today on Monday February 5 to the same time tomorrowon Tuesday, February 6.

February 6 is the centenary of the passing of the Act that gave the vote to some women for the first time.

Women went on hunger strike, chained themselves to railings and even died for the cause of democracy.

We still don’t have true democracy today, because our parliament does not reflect the views of the people.

At each election, the parties focus all their attention on just a small number of marginal seats.

In the 2017 general election, 68 per cent of votes had no impact on the result, either going to losing candidates or piling up in safe seats without influencing the make-up of Parliament.

No wonder that so many people don’t vote – they know it will make no difference.

We need PR for local elections too for the same reasons.

The current First Past the Post (FPTP) system leads to councils that are entirely Labour or entirely Conservative in some areas of the country: one-party rule.

The people of this country have never had a say on PR.

The Alternative Vote system – on which we had a referendum in 2011 – is not PR; in fact it often produces results that are even less proportional than FPTP.

I urge all readers to get behind the campaign for votes that matter.

Marjory Bisset

Worcester