A government minister has rejected suggestions that delays in distributing postal ballots risk making the UK look "like a banana republic".

In a Commons statement constitutional affairs minister Christopher Leslie accepted that "technical issues" concerning one printing firm had caused some delays in the delivery of ballots, particularly in the East Midlands, to the Royal Mail.

Two other local authorities has experienced problems as a result of an illness at one other printing contractor.

But the minister insisted that "contingency arrangements appear to be working well" and promised that voters would get their ballot papers in time for the June 10 elections.

Of the 127 local authorities taking part in the all-postal pilots, Leslie said that 49 were still in the process of printing.

But the minister said he was "confident" that deadlines would be met. "Many electors have already received their voting papers and some have even been returned to returning officers," he added.

Defending the plans to push ahead with extended pilots of postal voting, Leslie said the signs were that "millions more" voters would participate as a result.

He paid tribute to the "sterling efforts" of returning officers across the country.

"I am confident that the elections will run smoothly," he said.

Responding to the statement, Conservative spokesman Bernard Jenkin said that "nobody is fooled" by the statement.

"The government has created potentially an extremely serious situation," he warned.

The shadow regions secretary said that in key areas the June 1 deadline for distributing ballot packs could be missed, causing elections to be cancelled and delayed.

He warned that parliament might need to be recalled for emergency legislation to change the law in such an event.

Describing the minister as "hapless", Jenkin said deputy prime minister John Prescott should be taking responsibility for making the UK look "like a banana republic".

Ministers should have accepted the advice of the Electoral Commission, he said, suggesting that the advice was ignored because Prescott wanted to pilot all-postal voting in areas due to hold referendums on regional devolution this autumn.