It's not just voter ID that needs cleaning up in our grubby electoral system

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Voters could be asked to show their passport or another form of ID under controversial Government proposals (Picture: BrianAJackson/istock)

Since we are engaging in some kind of an electoral clean-up, ensuring that only those entitled to vote can actually cast votes in future elections (and despite the fact that convincing those entitled to vote that it’s worth their bother seems to have been the real challenge of late), isn't it high time that we cleaned up the electoral process as a whole?

For starters, I'd like to see party “donations” being blocked from anyone who isn't registered in this country for tax purposes and a similar ban placed on lobbying by any bodies which aren't based in the UK. Surely it is crucial to the national interest that we can be certain our politicians aren’t being bribed – sorry, incentivised – by extra-national entities?

While we're about it, I'd be quite interested to see the House of Lords stripped of members who aren't UK resident for tax purposes, too. If our increasingly outdated notions of nobility and aristocracy are to continue to bear any weight with the population at large then those in the upper chamber ought at the very least to be seen to be making a fair contributions, rather than running private companies feeding off the NHS from tax havens.

None of this ought to be too difficult to organise, just so long as people carry their passports or identity papers around with them – which, it seems, may be what the country voted for in June.

Julian Self
Milton Keynes

It's about time the UK regularised the carrying of some form of ID. A high proportion of the population already carry some form, in my case a driving licence or bus pass, and I have no objection to being asked to produce some form of ID when voting. We need to ask why anyone would object.

Marlene Maguire
Claygate, Surrey

The Government’s plan to introduce a scheme of requiring identification at polling stations to prevent electoral fraud superficially sounds sensible. As far as I'm aware such fraud is not common in the UK, but small pockets of the country may have problems and eliminating this is no bad thing.

However, many lower-income people could potentially be disenfranchised by the requirement to produce a passport, driving licence or even a utility bill (if they are on prepayment meters) if such documentation is required. Driving and foreign travel does not figure largely in the budgets of this group. Unless a very affordable simple photo identification, costing £2 as a ballpark figure, was available, what sounds like an excellent idea could be counterproductive to democracy.

Patrick Cleary
​Honiton, Devon

This proposal also disenfranchises older people. A few years ago I was trying to renew my mother's Blue Badge. As she lives in a residential home she had no current passport, utility bill or driving licence. And, no – in answer to a subsequent question – she did not hold a gun licence either.

Christine Kenrick
Address withheld

The “Snooper’s Charter” crept in, and now there is talk of showing ID to vote. Look out: next will be ID cards for everything and everyone.

Dave Thomas
Bristol

Brexiteers don’t oppose immigration but its effects

Assuming a “distaste for immigration” drove voters towards leave the European Union (Editorial, Tuesday) is a dangerous simplification that alienates those whose support is vital if we wish to wrest Brexit away from bigoted ideologues. It is the effects of immigration, not immigration itself, that is the problem. Everything from competition from Europeans willing and able to undercut British workers, through to competition for housing, schools and access to medical care, adds up to make uncontrolled immigration a dangerous proposition for the average British worker. Add a reduction in real wages (5 per cent since 2008) and the reasons for the result come into stark relief.

Solving these challenges requires domestic policies. Blaming the EU for our ills is a convenient cowardice. New consumer protection rules (requiring licensing for all tradesmen operating in the UK, for example), investment in social housing, education and the NHS would deliver the improvements in living standards enjoyed by our EU partners (France 10 per cent increase in real wages, Germany 14 per cent and Poland 24 per cent) and remove the forces of destruction that created Brexit.

Mark Grey
London

Europe will never contain terrorism without border controls

The sobering reality of the Paris, Nice and Berlin terrorist attacks can no longer be swept under the carpet by the wishful thinking and politically correct platitudes of EU leaders. The once peacetime merits of the Schengen agreement must now be reconsidered by a Europe that finds itself immersed in a war with Islamist terrorism.

Europe's open borders may have made for a smoother interlocking of its cogs of commerce, but they have unwittingly provided (much like the internet) a seamless, clandestine conveyor for the contagion of Islamism. Attempting to safeguard a multinational continent like Europe from insurgent, Islamist terrorism is like trying to navigate a merchant ship through uncharted, treacherous seas.

Without secure borders it is as vulnerable as is a vessel without isolating bulkheads. A single breach of the outer hull, or a fire in any one of its internal compartments, cannot be contained, and will ultimately sink the ship. Islamist terrorism cannot be controlled and ultimately defeated if it cannot first be contained.

Therefore, before firing up its boilers and charting a course to a secure and prosperous future, the good ship Europe must now accept the increased rigidity of having to reinstate its national bulkheads.

Mark Dyer
Rockingham

Hope for Syrian ceasefire

When will the West learn? The only possible chance of a ceasefire in Syria is to support Russia against the rebels. We all know what happened in Iraq when the US and Britain removed a dictator. The Russians, Turkey and Iran have to live with their neighbours. Support their ceasefire plans, bring some semblance of order, and thousands may be able to return to their homes.

Rod Hartley
Preston

Want to lose weight and help the planet in 2017? Go vegan

Many people resolve to lose weight every new year, only to find themselves no thinner in July than they were in January. This can be very frustrating, but by simply exercising and eating more wholesome vegan foods, you can look better on the outside and feel better on the inside. Not only do vegan foods taste delicious, they're also cholesterol-free and most are low in saturated fat and calories too.

Studies have shown that vegans are nine times less likely to be obese than meat eaters. They are also known to have lower rates of many life-threatening diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. And when you choose vegan foods, you also help spare animals a horrifying death at the abattoir, protect the environment and combat climate change.

Jennifer White
Peta