MPs against Scots poll control

A committee of MPs has said that the Scottish executive should not run elections.

The Commons Scottish affairs committee said in a new report released on Sunday that Westminster's Scotland Office should retain control of ballots north of the border.

But following the fiasco of last year's elections to the Scottish Parliament, it recommended a range of reforms.

In response to the poll in which more than 140,000 were spoiled due to confusing ballots and concerns were raised over electronic counting, the Holyrood executive has said that responsibility for elections should be transferred to Edinburgh.

However, while critical of the role of the Scotland Office, the MPs said devolving the power was not the solution.

"This is not necessary in order for elections to proceed smoothly in future," the report said.

"However, there may be a case for organisational changes on the ground in Scotland, including reformed structures of accountability."

The report was deeply critical of the role of the independent Electoral Commission in the process.

"It is difficult to see the Electoral Commission as having added any value to this entire process," the committee claimed.

"There is little value in establishing an independent Electoral Commission if it fails to act robustly to warn government of potential problems with the electoral system," it added.

It recommended separate ballot papers for constituency and regional MSPs at the next vote, decoupling parliamentary and council elections from being held on the same day, and suspending the use of electronic counting.

"There has been a severe loss of confidence in e-counting," the report said.

"The experience of its use in the Scottish Parliament and local government elections revealed a fundamental lack of transparency."

Committee chairman Mohammad Sarwar said: "This is an opportunity for the Scotland Office to make lasting changes to restore confidence in the voting process and we would like to see them co-ordinating their actions with other government departments, as the May 3 problems are unlikely to be unique to Scotland.

"We also wish to see more effective working practices established with the Electoral Commission, who we think failed to give voters enough warning about the potential ballot problems."