Raynsford: Condemns voting abuses

The government has unveiled new anti-fraud measures in the wake of the Birmingham postal votes scandal.

Six Labour councillors were convicted on Monday of postal votes fraud during last year's local elections.

The judge in the case, Richard Mawrey QC, said the crime "would disgrace a banana republic," and ordered the ballots to be rerun.

In a Commons statement on the case on Tuesday local government minister Nick Raynsford said defences would be stepped up in the current general election campaign.

However he denied Mawrey's claim that ministers were in "denial" over the potential for malpractice using postal votes.

Action

Although the government has piloted a series of all-postal votes trials, Birmingham was not one of four regions to use the system last year.

He said home secretary Charles Clarke will be meeting police chiefs this week to new initiatives, while returning officers will have an extra £10m more than in 2001 to spend on running the general election.

"We unreservedly condemn abuses of postal voting in Birmingham," he told MPs.

"With the general election having been announced today, we are taking further steps to reinforce the safeguards against any potential fraud.

"We are determined that the fraud in these cases in Birmingham does not undermine public confidence in the electoral system.

"Our top priority is to safeguard the integrity of the ballot."

Integrity

However Conservative shadow Commons leader Oliver Heald said the case had highlighted "extensive abuse"  by Labour members.

"What action is the prime minister going to take against those who so damaged the integrity of the system?" he asked.

Labour has announced that it has suspended the six councillors, but Heald pointed out that the government had ignored Electoral Commission advice on postal voting. "The government has done nothing," he said.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Edward Davey agreed that the government "should not brush aside" the court's findings.

But local government committee chairman Andrew Bennet said the good news was that "those who tried to cheat got caught".

And local MP Stephen McCabe said it would be a shame if "misleading" statements meant elderly or infirm people were put off postal voting.