23/05/05 - Labour Must Rule Out All Postal Elections

The Electoral Commission today published its report recommending the introduction of individual electoral registration and the abolition of all-postal voting. These are moves which the Government have explicitly opposed.  

Conservatives have challenged John Prescott and Lord Falconer to announce that no all-postal elections will take place in any area of the country in next year’s extensive set of local elections, and demanded that individual registration be included in the forthcoming Electoral Administration Bill.

Oliver Heald, Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said:

“Last December, the Government asserted it would continue with all-postal voting. But after the collapse in public confidence in postal voting, Labour must now return to the ballot box as the foundation for our democracy. If John Prescott and Lord Falconer do not rule out all-postal voting, Conservatives will table amendments to the Electoral Administration Bill to scrap it outright.

“There are growing cross-party calls for individual registration, as tried and tested in Northern Ireland. If the system was good enough to elect part of the UK Parliament on 5^th May, it should be used for the whole of the United Kingdom to restore integrity to our electoral system.”

North Swindon Conservative Parliamentary Spokesmen, Cllr Justin Tomlinson, "Local residents have been concerned about the 'safety' of postal voting.  The Government should listen to both the Electoral Commission, and the concerns of local residents and scrap any plans for all postal voting."