The new chief of the Electoral Commission has said he will look closely at claims of postal vote abuse after the general election.

As allegations of vote-rigging were made on Sunday, Sam Younger said the relaxation in the rules allowing anyone a postal vote on request will have to be examined.

The watchdog warned that by making it easier to vote by post, the system had been made more open to fraud."I think there is a greater possibility of a postal vote fraud this time because it is simply easier to get postal votes and there are more and more postal forms floating about," Younger told Breakfast with Frost.

It is thought that as many as 20 per cent of the votes in Thursday's election will be cast by post compared with one per cent of the total in the 1997 general election.

Younger also responded to Tory accusations that a Labour government would rig a referendum on the euro by loading the question to be put to the electorate.

He said the electoral commission could not change the wording of an unfair question but could still comment on it.