Smaller parties like Reform will be disproportionately affected in England by delays to postal votes, ex-Labour MP Luciana Berger and ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have suggested.
The Royal Mail is under fire for failing to deliver ballot packs to voters in some constituencies ahead of polling day on Thursday.
The delays are being urgently investigated, according to postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake, who criticised the Royal Mail.
Speaking on GB News, Berger and former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng also criticised the postal service and suggested Nigel Farage’s insurgent party could suffer as a result of the delays.
Luciana Berger says all parties will be hit
GB NEWS / PA
“I think it affects all parties, most importantly it affects the general public”, said Berger.
“It’s disproportionately impacting specific constituencies in England and some specific councils in London as well have said where it’s an issue.
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Kwasi Kwarteng said the issue could hit the Conservative vote
GB NEWS
“I think there’s lots of challenges for everyone, not just with this postal ballot issue, but people that are going to show up having to show necessary identification.”
Kwarteng concurred by pointing out that older voters will be struck by the ongoing issues.
With both the Tories and Reform chasing older votes, Kwarteng suggested the two parties will be disproportionately affected.
“I think it will affect the Conservative vote”, he said.
Nigel Farage’s insurgent party could be in trouble as a result of postal vote issues
GB News
“I’ve stood in five general elections and it was always understood that our vote was the slightly older vote and generally more reliant on postal votes.
“I remember standing in Brent East and Ken Livingstone, who had been MP there, said ‘your postal votes are quite strong, your vote might hold up’, so there was a connection in his mind between postal votes and Conservative votes.
“I think this is a real scandal because many people use postal votes as they’ve got mobility issues.
“There are instances I knew in my constituency where younger people who are looking after older people have had postal votes because they couldn’t leave them and go to the polling station.
“There are lots of reasons why people have postal votes, and I think it’s a real scandal they haven’t been able to get those votes on time.”
Royal Mail will be conducting sweeps of their delivery system on polling day to make sure any ballot packs still in the postal system are identified and passed to returning officers ahead of polls closing, the Government said.
