A High Court judge has described the current postal voting system as "an open invitation to fraud".

Richard Mawrey, who is presiding over allegations of vote rigging by six Labour candidates in last year's local elections, said he had heard enough to conclude the current system was far from secure.

"If I come to the conclusion that all the respondents in both cases were entirely innocent, I would not neglect to point out the law as it stands is an open invitation to fraud," he said.

"I could not come to any other conclusion."