As the race to secure a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum looms closer, the invective from the ‘no’ campaign becomes ever more shrill.

Are ‘no’ campaigners really serious when they say that voting for more than one preference vote is too difficult for us Brits to understand?

What does that say about the hundreds of millions spent educating the population? If the Australians can handle the AV system then surely the Brits must be able to match them?

First past the post has been declining in credibility since the 1950s when the vast majority of the population voted for the two major parties.

Now it’s down to 65 per cent as the two major parties continue to slowly implode. You only have to look at the last Oxfordshire County Council elections where a 38 per cent share of the vote for the Tories resulted in 70 per cent of the seats being taken by them; to recognise the unfairness and skewed results common with the first past the post system.

It’s time to defeat the vested interests and status quo doom mongers.

Timothy J Oates

St Peter’s Road

Abingdon