THE surge in support for UKIP represents a brief window of opportunity for voting reform.

If the right-of-centre vote is split then it is unrealistic to expect a resulting Labour government to introduce reform which would resolve such a split.

The Conservatives on the other hand are urgently in need of this measure. It is surely too conspicuously hypocritical, even for them, to condemn us to another first-past-the-post election and then warn that a vote for Ukip is a vote for Labour.

How could they now make a change which has been convincingly rejected in a referendum?

Firstly, the proposal can be modified to address legitimate criticisms made of it.

Secondly, we need to remember that the referendum was an absurdity inflicted upon us by a delusional Nick Clegg.

Preference voting is like gay sex; the relevant political question was not whether a majority of the electorate wish to participate. It is whether they are prepared to forbid it for those who do.

The difficulty of communicating that distinction made it an unsuitable issue for a referendum.

John Riseley, Harrogate.

DAVID CAMERON and his other wet colleague Ken Clarke made an error from which neither will recover when they called supporters of Ukip fruitcakes, closet racists, loonies and clowns.

Ukip took votes from all mainstream parties but certainly attracted true Tories and not the watered down, social democratic clap-trap offered by Mr Cameron.

The Prime Minister now finds himself in a tricky situation. He must either retract his flippant categorisation of Ukip or resign.

There are several on his backbenches who would appear to favour the latter.

Before Labour supporters get carried away, let me remind them that Nigel Farage has offered more explanation in the way of policies than Ed Miliband who appears to be in a catatonic dither over the direction his party must take. Labour ought to have scooped the pool in last Thursday’s election. Their gaining a handful of seats is a pyrrhic victory indeed.

It is now completely evident that the general view of the electorate is we must withdraw, or at least renegotiate, our membership of the EU.

It is unlikely that either Mr Cameron or his crumpet-toasting advisors have the stomach to reach a decision. The Tories need to think fast before they receive a thorough pasting in the 2014 European elections.

Colin Mortimer, Pity Me.