Lord Lipsey suggests a hybrid system of first past the post and proportional representation for the House of Commons (Letters, 24 July). But why start there, as surely the House of Lords is the area that is crying out for a more democratic system?
An elected Lords, whether that is by proportional representation, alternative vote or FPTP, would address the democratic deficit at the heart of our government. As the Lords does not have constituency connections, it would be far simpler to introduce a PR system based on regions, similar to that which we enjoyed when electing members of the European parliament.
Introducing such a system to the Lords would enable us to test and refine it while ensuring a greater say for voters. The model, if successful, could then be considered for the Commons, but much more thought would have to be given to maintaining the constituency links that are valued by so many.
It may be that a system of FPTP for the House of Commons and PR for the House of Lords turns out to be one that is entirely workable.
Liz McInnes
Former MP for Heywood & Middleton
• Lord Lipsey is right that there are many routes to proportional representation. Rather than getting bogged down with the various PR options, it might be better to keep it simple and ask parliament to adopt PR as a principle. It could then be left to a cross-party select committee to decide on which version to recommend to parliament.
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all use forms of proportional representation; Scotland has recently changed its system to the single transferable vote. If our neighbours can do it, surely England can? We voted for change.
Rosanne Bostock
Oxford
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