FINALLY, we have reached the end of another costly General Election.

Yet, despite the expense to the taxpayer, we have now seen the fifth consecutive General Election failing to get a turnout of at least 70 per cent. I would argue that one of the main reasons for this problem is our flawed first past the post (FPTP) voting system.

When I was first made aware of democracy, I was told that the winner of any election is the candidate with the most votes. Of course, this is true in a two-candidate election.

However, what we see with FPTP is a system which allows candidates to win despite most of their constituents voting against said winner.

Ukip has also once again taken a beating for FPTP’s failings; there are 650 MPs in the Commons, Ukip received 1.8 per cent of the vote and no MPs. By my calculations, 1.8 per cent of 650 is not zero - it is something more like a dozen.

It used to be argued that FPTP delivers strong Governments. This can no longer be taken to be the truth as the simple fact of the matter is that two of the past three General Elections have resulted in a hung parliament. Plus, the one majority which was delivered was only wafer-thin anyway.

Now the PM is having to rely upon a party which received half the number of votes as Ukip achieved, yet ten more MPs.

We can’t carry on with a system which forces many people into voting for one party because they are terrified of letting the other one win. We need everybody to be able to vote for their true party of choice.

If every politician (locally as well as nationally) considers themselves to be a true democrat, then they should put the democracy of their country before the electoral good of their party and join me in backing a fairer, more proportionally representative system of voting.

Joseph Lambert, Youth Chairman, Ukip Richmond