"This may be one of the most serious examples of political corruption in modern British history. Tower Hamlets is the worst council in England - it is corrupt, incompetent, insensitive, undemocratic and secret."
Up and at them George ...
Vote-rigging on a "massive" scale is taking place ahead of next week's local elections, Respect MP George Galloway claimed today.
His political party claims to have uncovered evidence which proves that hundreds of postal votes have gone astray in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
Mr Galloway rounded on the government for encouraging a voting system open to fraud.
Special Branch is investigating the claims and has seized documents gathered by members of the party.
Police are also looking into similar allegations in six other parts of London including Harrow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Southwark, Hounslow and Barnet.
Their inquiries come after a 50-year-old woman was bailed in Birmingham a day after she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.
Speaking in Bethnal Green today, Mr Galloway said the abuse of the postal vote system had been allowed to develop in a bid to stop his party getting more votes.
He said that New Labour's encouragement of the postal vote system made them "at best complacent and complicit at worst" in the scandal.
He said: "This may be one of the most serious examples of political corruption in modern British history. Tower Hamlets is the worst council in England - it is corrupt, incompetent, insensitive, undemocratic and secret."
The MP said members of his party had laboriously tracked down the households where postal votes had been registered.
"We have found hundreds, there must be thousands," he said.
"Political corruption on that scale is unprecedented in Britain since at least the last part of the 19th century. Is this a banana republic? Is this a corrupt political dictatorship where vote-rigging can be tolerated?"
The Respect party claims that between April 10 and April 18 - the last day to register - 5,000 postal votes were added in Tower Hamlets alone.
In some wards, this represented a 113% increase in postal votes, the party said. John Rees, national secretary of the Respect party, said although the system had been set up by Labour, the Liberal Democrats appeared to be the main perpetrators.
He said: "The system is administered by Labour, the main culprits we have discovered so far are the Liberal Democrats."
Mr Rees said the party had gathered considerable anecdotal evidence which claimed that canvassers had gone round to individual houses and asked people to unwittingly sign forms which meant their postal vote would be redirected to a third-party address.
The Liberal Democrats had no initial response to the allegations.
The local Tower Hamlets Labour party today insisted it was already aware of the problems and had raised their concerns with the relevant authorities. A London Labour Party spokesperson said: "We urge the police and relevant authorities to look closely at complaints and take whatever action is necessary to guarantee a free and fair democratic election for the people of Tower Hamlets.
"It is vital that local people have confidence in their local and national election systems. Our view is that if an election isn't open and fair it isn't worth winning."
The East End London borough is a key target for Respect, where the party expects to make big gains next month. Currently the party has just one councillor, but hopes to wrest several of Labour's 31 seats as well as some of the 16 currently held by the Liberal Democrats.
The party has been very active in supporting council tenants opposed to controversial plans to the transfer of council housing to housing associations. The Labour-run council caused ructions before Christmas when the executive announced they would suspend a series of mandatory stock transfer ballots until after the local election.
The council also faced two rounds of strike action earlier this year following the decision to make a longstanding member of staff redundant because of her campaigning issues around council housing.
Eileen Short, sister of former cabinet minister Clare Short, lost her job as part of a reorganisation exercise, despite several suitable jobs lying empty.
Up and at them George ...
Vote-rigging on a "massive" scale is taking place ahead of next week's local elections, Respect MP George Galloway claimed today.
His political party claims to have uncovered evidence which proves that hundreds of postal votes have gone astray in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
Mr Galloway rounded on the government for encouraging a voting system open to fraud.
Special Branch is investigating the claims and has seized documents gathered by members of the party.
Police are also looking into similar allegations in six other parts of London including Harrow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Southwark, Hounslow and Barnet.
Their inquiries come after a 50-year-old woman was bailed in Birmingham a day after she was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.
Speaking in Bethnal Green today, Mr Galloway said the abuse of the postal vote system had been allowed to develop in a bid to stop his party getting more votes.
He said that New Labour's encouragement of the postal vote system made them "at best complacent and complicit at worst" in the scandal.
He said: "This may be one of the most serious examples of political corruption in modern British history. Tower Hamlets is the worst council in England - it is corrupt, incompetent, insensitive, undemocratic and secret."
The MP said members of his party had laboriously tracked down the households where postal votes had been registered.
"We have found hundreds, there must be thousands," he said.
"Political corruption on that scale is unprecedented in Britain since at least the last part of the 19th century. Is this a banana republic? Is this a corrupt political dictatorship where vote-rigging can be tolerated?"
The Respect party claims that between April 10 and April 18 - the last day to register - 5,000 postal votes were added in Tower Hamlets alone.
In some wards, this represented a 113% increase in postal votes, the party said. John Rees, national secretary of the Respect party, said although the system had been set up by Labour, the Liberal Democrats appeared to be the main perpetrators.
He said: "The system is administered by Labour, the main culprits we have discovered so far are the Liberal Democrats."
Mr Rees said the party had gathered considerable anecdotal evidence which claimed that canvassers had gone round to individual houses and asked people to unwittingly sign forms which meant their postal vote would be redirected to a third-party address.
The Liberal Democrats had no initial response to the allegations.
The local Tower Hamlets Labour party today insisted it was already aware of the problems and had raised their concerns with the relevant authorities. A London Labour Party spokesperson said: "We urge the police and relevant authorities to look closely at complaints and take whatever action is necessary to guarantee a free and fair democratic election for the people of Tower Hamlets.
"It is vital that local people have confidence in their local and national election systems. Our view is that if an election isn't open and fair it isn't worth winning."
The East End London borough is a key target for Respect, where the party expects to make big gains next month. Currently the party has just one councillor, but hopes to wrest several of Labour's 31 seats as well as some of the 16 currently held by the Liberal Democrats.
The party has been very active in supporting council tenants opposed to controversial plans to the transfer of council housing to housing associations. The Labour-run council caused ructions before Christmas when the executive announced they would suspend a series of mandatory stock transfer ballots until after the local election.
The council also faced two rounds of strike action earlier this year following the decision to make a longstanding member of staff redundant because of her campaigning issues around council housing.
Eileen Short, sister of former cabinet minister Clare Short, lost her job as part of a reorganisation exercise, despite several suitable jobs lying empty.
o you still write love poems and are they still published?
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