Why bother? On the eve of the 2005 General Election it is this question, rather than Which Party, or even Which Leader, that is perhaps uppermost in the minds of most potential voters.

At the last General Election only 59 per cent of eligible voters chose to vote, the lowest total for almost a century. Everyone expects the turnout to be even lower this time. The immediate response of the Government has been to extend the opportunity for postal voting, despite clear evidence that this could imperil the integrity of the poll itself.

Beyond that, New Labour has hinted at compelling us to vote. A denial of democracy, this is also unwise since it will mask the extent of public disaffection, of which governments should be keenly aware.

Of course, the declining interest in General Elections has much to do with the fact that successive governments have pushed their luck with the deceits and half-truths they routinely peddle. Elected in our name, they tell us as little as they need and gloss it to their own advantage. We usually have to wait 30 years to find out what truly went on. As a mature electorate, which is what the politicians call us when they wish to butter us up, we have had enough.

Of course, the disappearance of an ideological gap between Tory and Labour has also bred indifference. In the end the choice comes down to two versions of the same thing.

Traditionally, the two main parties have said that a vote for any third party is a wasted vote. But now that the LibDems have become a force to be reckoned with they argue that a vote for them could let the other lot in.

In effect, they are urging people not to vote according to their principles or political beliefs. How dare they? Voting according to one's beliefs ought to be what a General Election is about.

In fact, one of the unmentioned issues of this election is the election itself. Hands up anyone who doesn't believe that every vote should carry equal weight. As I thought, no-one.

So how come we have a system in which most votes are a waste. In safe seats the only ones that matter are for the sitting party. For this reason, the current election is really only being fought in the marginal constituencies, whose voters are being bombarded with literature and canvassed on every street corner. The rest of us can go hang.

When the Liberals of old were truly a marginal party our first-past-the-post system could perhaps be justified. Now that the LibDems attract around a quarter of the vote, compared with a mere four per cent half a century ago, it can't.

To their credit, the LibDems haven't raised this as an election issue. Nevertheless, the advent of proportional representation, to give every citizen's vote equal value, is overdue. Since we now seem to be in a situation in which, short of a once-in-a-generation upheaval like the one that swept New Labour to power, it is becoming increasingly difficult to depose the existing Government, a defeat tomorrow for the Tories might well persuade them that only by making common cause with the LibDems on PR are they likely to gain any future handle on power.