Labour seat ballot probe to go to top level

1:05pm Thursday 3rd January 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

CALLS for a re-run of the contest to choose a candidate to fight the Bolton South-east seat for Labour at the next General Election are to go to the party's national ruling body.

Dr Brian Iddon, who has been the constituency MP since 1997, is to retire at the next election.

Kevin Meagher lost out to London barrister Yasmin Qureshi by 17 votes in the contest to replace him last August, but he claims there were problems with postal voting.

He is unhappy with the findings by regional Labour Party bosses, triggered when local Bolton party branches complained, and is now exercising his right to ask the party's National Executive Committee to investigate.

Mr Meagher alleged that because ballot papers went out a week late, some party members who went on holiday may have been denied a vote.

He claimed that while 119 people had applied for a postal vote, 144 ballot postal papers were printed, of which only 10 were issued as emergency postal votes.

Mr Meagher, the Bolton South-east constituency's party secretary, demanded to know what had happened to the "spare" forms.

Labour's regional organiser, Andy Smith, conceded that the postal votes of three people were not counted, two because they were wrongly deemed to be in arrears with membership fees and another because a signature could not be verified.

His report said it was normal for surplus ballot papers to be printed in case papers were lost or emergency ballot papers needed to be issued.

It said 17 people were issued with emergency postal votes and there was one spoiled paper that had been replaced. The remaining seven ballot papers had been accounted for.

The report added that although postal votes were sent out three days late, with the postal strike blamed, no votes were returned after the closing date.

Labour's regional director, Anna Bunt has told the Bolton branches the result should stand and that she was confident there were no missing ballot papers. She added that three disputed votes "could not have made any material difference to such a comfortable majority of seventeen".

But Mr Meagher said: "Many of the points I raised have been conceded, including the fact that there were more ballot papers in circulation than members and that some members lost their entitlement to vote due to procedural errors.

"But the report simply doesn't answer all the questions I and many other members have repeatedly raised. I am therefore asking for a more in-depth investigation by the National Executive Committee to get to the bottom of this.

"Transparency and accountability are the key ingredients to a well-run election but both are missing here."

Ms Qureshi said: "Internal party procedures exist and Mr Meagher is entitled to go through them, although I think he's abusing them.

"The regional office gave me a call to say as far as they were concerned, the matter was finished."