• AS a 79-year-old pensioner I am often flabbergasted and sometimes dismayed at the money spent on circulars from local authorities setting out, as Islington Electoral Services has done, the “action required” so that I can cast my vote.

It is a complete waste of time and paper as the housing department, council tax department and housing benefits team all have a computer record of my existence and residency. I assume Electoral Services has access to this.

If that is the case, why expect me and thousands of others already on the database to fill in another form? I can understand the need to have a full account of the electorate, but the cost of producing a four-page form completely baffles me.

The form stresses that “Your vote matters”, but my vote over the past 45 years has never mattered. I have never lived in anything like “a people’s democracy”. To put it crudely, the mass of the population are merely voting fodder.

Also, I feel dissatisfied with Councillor Claudia Webbe’s decision to chase a parliamentary seat so soon after her election as an Islington councillor. It’s a slap in the face for voters. Her decision to seek the Labour candidacy in Lewisham East was ill-judged.

Labour must state categorically that there has to be a time lapse between standing in local elections and putting your name forward for a by-election candidacy.

NIGEL GANSELL,
EC1