Prescott urged to delay post-only votes

John Prescott is today under pressure to abandon postal-only voting after a damning report.

Tories called for November's referendum on regional government in the North-West to be postponed in the wake of an Electoral Commission warning of fraud, bribery, intimidation and misdirected ballot papers.

The study said abuse and muddles exposed in a trial involving 14 million voters in June's local and European elections meant all-postal ballots should not be used again in the UK. Shadow local government minister Caroline Spelman called for it to be delayed so traditional ballot boxes could be set up.

"There is insufficient time to introduce tougher anti-fraud measures," she said. "This is a vote of no confidence in the Government's handling of allpostal voting in the June elections."