Sir – At midnight on the day of the last General Election, research suggests that two-thirds of all those watching the television were watching election coverage on one channel or another.

According to the BBC, just under 15 million viewers watched some of its election coverage between 9.55pm and 2am that night. That’s an impressive number of people who were prepared to allow politics into their sitting rooms and engage with the political process. By making light in such a frivolous way of my concerns (Leader, No disgrace, January 14) about the move of the election count to Friday, are you really so prepared to squander that level of engagement when the relationship between politics and the public has never been more in need of bolstering?

Of course the count needs to be accurate. But I simply do not find the argument convincing that by keeping the count on a Thursday night we are so going to undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

If the theatre of the late-night count is one way of re-engaging people with politics it should be supported not derided. It is not my priorities which seem wrong but your own, and, it is quite a surprise to find that you believe that in this year of all years the general election can take place in isolation of the impact of recent political events.

Dr John Howell MP, Member of Parliament for Henley, House of Commons