PENDLE LABOUR PARTY AND THE CROSS-PARTY AGREEMENT ON HANDLING POSTAL BALLOT PAPERS

That this House notes the Electoral Commission's report in January 2014 on electoral fraud in the UK, which identified 16 local authority areas at greater risk of allegations of electoral fraud being reported, including Pendle; deplores the loss of confidence in the electoral system that has resulted from widespread allegations of electoral fraud in certain parts of the country; welcomes the investigation begun in March 2013 by Stephen Barnes, Chief Executive of Pendle Borough Council and Returning Officer for Pendle Borough Council, following concerns expressed about postal and proxy voting in public meetings in Nelson, Colne and West Craven; further welcomes the cross-party panel set up by Pendle Council in August 2012 to investigate allegations of fraudulent postal and proxy votes; regrets the description of the widespread public concern by Councillor Mohammad Iqbal, leader of Pendle Council's Labour Group, as sour grapes; commends the panel on its cross-party agreement asking party workers not to procure signed postal ballot papers, to agree to council staff requesting the names and addresses of people delivering batches of completed postal vote forms and not to issue blank forms without referring requests to the appropriate senior party representative; congratulates the panel on the cross-party agreement being signed up to by the Pendle branches of the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrat Party, UK Independence Party and British National Party as well as the local police; further regrets the Labour agent for Nelson, Robert Oliver's description of the cross-party agreement as a cheap publicity stunt and a smokescreen; and deeply regrets the Pendle Labour Party's decision not to sign the cross-party agreement.