“This campaign is looking less and less like an election and more like a game of roulette. We don’t want to be unfair to the casino industry, as at least most games of chance have rules.

“The polls report a Lib Dem surge, but even if they come out on top in the big poll on May 6th, it does not mean they will win. And Labour, even if in third place, might carry off the prize. So capricious is our voting system in translating votes into seats won, the matter of who forms our next government hangs on the roll of a dice, and a loaded one at that

“Uncertainty over who will get most support is natural and necessary in Britain’s staid elections. But uncertainty over how our antiquated system will decide who wins at Westminster is not. A system that can make the first last, and the last first, is simply unacceptable.

“We need a system that can deliver the will of the people not by accident but by design. A change to the Single Transferable Vote system would give us a parliament that reflects the votes cast, and leave a majority of voters with the satisfaction that someone they supported is at Westminster to represent their views.

“The uncertainty we’re seeing nationally is not what 25 million voters in our safe seats are experiencing. The Clegg surge may have generated a frisson of excitement for them, but they can only remain observers.  “An Election isn’t General when it excludes most of Britain. We owe it to all voters to call time on our busted voting system.”