Booklet from the returning officer

• THE other day I received a booklet with the inviting title “6 May 2021: Have your say” from Mary Harpley, Greater London Returning Officer.

It reminded me of the dubiety of our current democracy. A good democracy minimally requires a well-informed electorate.

Certain politicians conspire against that requirement, preferring to misinform: witness prime minister Boris Johnson’s “We have placed a protective ring around care homes”; “There will be no border down the Irish Sea”; “As London’s mayor, I left Transport for London’s finances in robust good order”.

The booklet offers another way in which democracy is ill-served.

How many people, many working long hours and or with children to look after, have time and motivation to read the booklet’s 36 pages?

How many of us have the inclination to fathom the relationship between London Assembly’s Constituency Members, London-wide Members and, for example, Westminster City Council (local authority elections are next year, I gather)?

Do many of us have resources to reflect on the 20 candidates standing for Mayor of London, the six candidates or so for each constituency and the 18 parties for London-wide membership, each party with around six listed candidates?

In the end who gets elected will depend on a small percentage of those people who have managed to get registered to vote – and recall how many face obstacles to registration – and who typically have little knowledge of candidates and distinctive policies; not least because nearly all those for London mayor emphasise – surprise, surprise – how they want to improve housing and public transport, reduce crime and make London a healthier city for living.

Bearing in mind that, in addition, central government largely determines what can be done locally, is not the whole exercise something of a charade?

PETER CAVE, W1