MARTIN Birtle is right to bemoan the state of British politics (HAS, May 22), but the concept of an "Independent Party" is a contradiction in terms.

A quicker way to cure the evils of party politics would be to adopt the following rules: 1. Candidates should be required to have been a registered voter in the constituency for at least five years.

2. Voting should be by Single Transferable Vote for single-member seats, with "None of the above" as a permanent option.

3. Candidates defeated by "None of the above" should be barred from standing again for five years.

Such rules would prevent the parachuting in of sycophantic yesmen, would weaken the power of party headquarters, would allow candidates of differing views from the same party to stand against each other without fear of splitting the vote, would give independent candidates a better chance against the political machines, and would eliminate any need for tactical voting.

Note that STV is not Proportional Representation. That would have the opposite effect, which is why party politicians advocate it.

David Kelsey, Middlesbrough.