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Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has hit out at the “scandal” of postal votes at this year’s General Election, as Britons across the country were left facing delays in receiving their voting papers.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils, said there had been an “unprecedented increase” in postal voting, adding “more pressure to an already complex process and overburdened system”.
Addressing the issue ahead of July 4, an Electoral Commission spokesperson said the “vast majority of postal votes had been delivered” and they were “not aware of any outstanding large-scale issues”.
Speaking to GB News, Kwarteng said the “mess up” by those involved was “really disappointing” and “pretty scandalous”.
Kwasi Kwarteng has hit out at the ‘scandal’ surrounding postal votes at this year’s election
PA / GB News
Kwarteng fumed: “It’s a scandal. Certainly when I was an MP, people often used postal votes because they were either carers of elderly people or they were themselves elderly.
“And for them not to be able to exercise their vote because of some administrative mess up is really disappointing and pretty scandalous.”
Host Camilla Tominey highlighted how UK expats had also been affected by the delay in postal votes, and how many voters felt “disenfranchised” by the issue.
Camilla said: “We had somebody on the show in the week who said that half of the postal votes that were meant to go to expats living abroad hadn’t arrived, and then it was too late. So they feel disenfranchised.”
The GB News presenter also noted the stance of newly elected Clacton MP Nigel Farage, and his desire to “ban postal votes all together”.
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Weighing in with her thoughts on the postal vote delay, former Labour MP Luciana Berger said it needs to be “looked into very closely” ahead of future elections.
Berger told GB News: “That’s something that needs to be looked at very closely. We saw over a million people sign up for a postal vote after the election was called. That’s very significant.
“We’ve got the highest number of people, over ten million, that use the postal vote. So certainly we need to think about in all constituencies.”
Calling for better resources for both the Royal Mail and local councils to deal with a surge in postal votes, Berger continued: “Do we have the printers that are necessary? Does Royal Mail have all the staff that’s necessary?
Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the ‘administrative mess up’ was ‘really disappointing’
GB News
“Obviously some of this has taken them by surprise, but I think everyone’s got something to answer to and councils will need that resource. There’s been some across the country that haven’t done the printing in time.”
Revealing his own experience with postal votes, host Stephen Dixon claimed his postal voting was “very smooth” after he needed to vote by proxy for his parents.
Stephen revealed: “It’s like the NHS, isn’t it? You’ve got to look at the areas that get it right and compare them to the areas that get it wrong.
“I’ve had two postal votes, proxy votes. My parents were away and it’s absolutely been brilliant, very, very smooth.”
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