THE ALTERNATIVE VOTE
SIR,—Miss Lakeman states the case for proportional . representation and everybody knows that it is a very respectable case. But my concern at the moment is not so much with the discovery of the ideal represen- tative system but with the avoidance of a very great immediate danger with which we arc threatened. There seems reason to fear that at the next General Election a large majority of voters will vote in favour of our going into the Common Market and a majority of Members elected will be opposed to it. If that should happen this country will look supremely ridiculous and its international prestige will suffer a shattering blow. My only objection to proportional representation in that context is that since it would require, as Miss Lakeman says, a total revision of constituency boundaries, there is no possibility of getting it introduced before the next election. The alternative vote is a simple device which could be introduced by a short Bill which could be passed rapidly.
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