THERE is much that could be improved in the way we elect our politician in this country but one particular area that has been highlighted by the recent General Election is that of student votes.

I fail to understand why students are allowed the facility to register in two different places, one in their home constituency and one in the constituency in which they study.

Several, no doubt good, MPs who have worked long and hard for their constituents over many years have been ousted in our university cities and towns by students using what is in effect a block vote with no thought for the impact of their actions other than youthful idealism; an idealism that soon dissipates when they eventually enter the real world of work and, more importantly, paying the taxes that funds their idealism.

No other group of people have the ability to have this sort of undemocratic effect on an election, so why should students be given the ability to do so just because they are studying away from their home town?

What is wrong with them having a postal vote just like anyone else when away from home? We could so easily have ended up with a spendthrift Labour Government voted into power by a group of people who don’t have to pay for the cost, via taxes, of their idealistic view of the world for several years to come, indeed in some cases during the lifetime of the Parliament they help elect and beyond.

Robert Carter, Brompton, Northallerton