Justice minister backs calls for election counts to start within four hours of polls closing

The Justice Minister this week lent his support to proposals that would require the counting of votes in a general election to start within four hours of the close of the poll unless there are exceptional reasons.

In a debate on amendments to the Constitutional Reform Bill, Jack Straw said the proposals would send “a clear message to electoral registration officers about the intent on both sides of the house”.

Andrew Pelling, Independent MP for Croydon Central, pointed out that he won by 75 votes when he stood as a Conservative candidate and had to go through three recounts.

“Does [the minister] not understand that it is not right in a parliamentary democracy that the people who have to do the counting should do so when they are half awake?” he asked. “Surely whether counts take place in the morning or overnight is not such a great issue.”

The Justice Minister responded: “Everybody accepts that, when there is a requirement for a recount, the counting can be suspended until the following day, as is often the case.

“However, concern has been expressed in all part of the House about a growing trend among returning officers to defer until the following day – for their own convenience and nobody else’s – the counting of most of the constituencies which in the past have always been counted on the night of the election.”

Shadow justice minister Eleanor Laing said the proposed amendments had support “on both sides of the House”.

But David Monks of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives told the BBC he had “serious doubts” about the plan.

Monks highlighted issues in rural areas, where it can take hours to get ballot boxes back. It was “wrong” to put pressure on returning officers, he suggested, adding that an accurate result was more important than a fast one.