Minister hits back on vote fraud

The hearings were seen as a test case over postal voting

The government has rejected a judge's claim it is "in denial" about the extent of postal voting fraud.

Richard Mawrey QC ruled there had been "widespread fraud" in six Birmingham council seats won last year by Labour.

Local government minister Nick Raynsford told MPs that anti-fraud measures were being stepped up ahead of the forthcoming general election.

He said the government thought enough was being done to ensure the 5 May poll was run successfully.

And he said he was "determined" the Birmingham case would not undermine confidence in the electoral system.

He told MPs: "Our top priority is to safeguard the integrity of the ballot."

Extra £10m

Six Labour councillors were found guilty of an electoral fraud on Monday which the judge said "would disgrace a banana republic".

Mr Raynsford said Home Secretary Charles Clarke would be meeting police chiefs to discuss new initiatives to crack down on electoral fraud.

Extra cash, £10m more than in 2001, would be made available to help returning officers ensure fraud was eliminated.

Postal voting was available on general demand for the first time in 2001, when 3.9% voted by post.

About 15% of voters have asked for postal ballots for the poll expected on 5 May.

Tory MP Peter Luff said events in Birmingham had "tarnished the whole British democratic process".

And his colleague Bernard Jenkin accused the government of "playing fast and loose with our democratic system".

But Mr Raynsford said the fact that Tories were sending out postal vote forms to would-be supporters meant that condemning the system had a "whiff of hypocrisy".

Acting as an election commissioner, Mr Mawrey called the system "hopelessly insecure".

Wrong hands?

He was worried election officers could not check the validity signatures on returned ballots.

It did not help that the ballot envelopes were easily identifiable in the post, he said.

"Short of writing 'Steal Me' on the envelopes, it is hard to see what more could be done to ensure their coming into the wrong hands," Mr Mawrey added.

The judge said he regretted the government had dismissed recent warnings about the system's failings as "scaremongering".

He pointed to a government statement which said: "The systems already in place to deal with the allegations of electoral fraud are clearly working."

Unabated fraud?

Mr Mawrey said: "Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising...

"The systems to deal with fraud are not working well.

"They are not working badly. The fact is that there are no systems to deal realistically with fraud and there never have been. Until there are, fraud will continue unabated."

Birmingham was not part of the postal-only experiment undertaken in some areas at the last local elections.

Both the pro-Kashmir People's Justice Party (PJP) and the Liberal Democrats claimed local Labour activists used forgery and deception to collect votes - something the candidates denied.

'Fraud is rare'

A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said it condemned all fraud and would write to all returning officers to reinforce action against abuses.

"The voting system in the UK works, and works well," he said.

"We do not believe that electoral fraud is widespread.

"The evidence indicates it is very rare: in the case of the electoral offences in Birmingham, the wards involved were two of just five disputed in June 2004, when 17 million people voted in 78 European Parliamentary constituencies and more than 6,000 voting wards."