Count them out

So David Cameron is not going to cut the number of MSPs to save money, as Scottish Conservatives had proposed in their 2007 manifesto (your report, 15 February).

Why not let voters – or rather an increasing number of non voters – decide? The Scottish Parliament, with 56 MSPs elected under the Additional Member system, has flexibility. It has already been proposed there should be space on the ballot paper for positive abstention. Why not go further and if, as happened in 2007, only 60 per cent of the electors vote, the total number of Additional Members could be reduced by 40 per cent. Tailoring seats to voting turnout in this way would work wonders in making all political parties more responsive to the electorate besides saving public money.

JIM CRAIGEN

Downie Grove

Edinburgh