DECREASING turnout in elections is prompting a new round of head-scratching, the latest thoughts yesterday including introducing votes for 16-year-olds.

Chancellor Gordon Brown is said to be entertaining the idea.

But 16-year-olds won't be any more inclined to vote than anyone else if they feel their votes count for very little and their voices aren't heard by the hierarchies of power.

Our 'first-past-the-post' electoral system has encouraged a head-to-head fight between the two major parties. In vast swathes of the North-East - be it Tony Blair's Sedgefield or William Hague's Richmond - votes cast for a candidate other than the sitting MP are practically worthless.

Those votes have to be made to count: some form of proportional representation, which encourages parties of more than just two hues, must be seriously considered.

There is also a democratic deficit on a local level. Councils get an awful lot of blame when things go wrong, even though they are largely enacting policies made by central government. They get a lot of blame when council tax rises above the rate of inflation, even though their finances are controlled by central government.

Local councils have to be given power from Whitehall if local votes are going to count for anything.

But, for a similar reason, council structure has to change. The cabinet system has not assisted because, as we saw last week with the Durham County Council homes closure plan, many of the decisions are not made in the open after public consultation and debate but in the privacy of a closed political group meeting.

One of the benefits of directly-elected mayors is that, like London, the public at least gets the chance to witness two different wings of the same party openly debating the future. And, like Middlesbrough or Hartlepool, if they don't like what the established parties have to offer, there is an independent alternative.

We are therefore watching with interest to see if Darlington takes this route - although we have yet to identify many potential charismatic candidates ready to throw their hats into the ring.

This, though, indicates how vexed the problem of voter disengagement has become. We are advocating more elections in a bid to rectify falling turnout in the existing elections.