In his analysis of the extent to which rural and small-town voters may be having an increasing impact on the outcome of elections, Andy Beckett writes that people living in cities are often too “transient, overcommitted, easily distracted” to vote or even to register to vote (Cities may dominate our culture but real power now lies in the countryside, 13 December). In that case, an even worse level of distraction must have infected voters in the recent Sleaford and North Hykeham byelection, in which there was a dismally low 37.1% turnout.

This constituency, in which I live, typifies the kind of area Beckett believes is now in the ascendant. Yet the whole byelection campaign was typified by an overwhelming sense of apathy and resignation. The county newspaper, the Lincolnshire Echo, hardly featured it; there was a conspicuous absence of the customary evidence of political allegiance in voters’ windows; and even though some leading political figures visited the constituency, none generated a buzz, possibly because the constituency has consistently returned a Tory MP since its inception. Two parties, Ukip and Labour, couldn’t even be bothered to spell the name of the constituency correctly.

There may be much substance to what Andy Beckett says about urban voter apathy and the probability that boundary changes to parliamentary constituencies will marginalise cities further. But the recent evidence of “true blue” Sleaford and North Hykeham is a sobering reminder that rural and small-town voters are just as capable of apathy and indifference as urban ones.

David Head

Lincoln

• The opinion piece by Andy Beckett claimed that the vote for Brexit was led by rural and small-town voters. The evidence for this is unconvincing and the picture is far more complex. Analysis of the referendum results shows that 53.4% of English votes were cast for leave. In the rural areas of England, 55.5% of votes were cast for leave. So just 2.1% greater, and hardly the stark division described in Beckett’s piece. In fact, the category of area where the highest proportion voted for leave was that called “urban with minor conurbation”, consisting of mainly ex-industrial places.

Brian Wilson

Bridport, Dorset

• I am surprised, not to say amazed that you’ve published no letters from readers commenting on the information in the small news item tucked away at the end of the finance pages (New Year jobs boost likely say UK employers, 13 December) wherein it states that “more than half of all the jobs created by UK employers this year went to EU workers”. It is not necessary to be a xenophobe to believe that this statement says all that is necessary about UK employers and the urgent need for improved protection for workers’ rights in the UK.

Les Summers

Kidlington, Oxfordshire

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