Labour leadership: Some ballots ‘not received’
By politics.co.uk staff
Some Labour members have not received their ballots for voting, despite the deadline for the poll being at 17:00 BST tonight.
Diane Abbott, one of the contenders for the leadership, raised the issue in a radio interview with the BBC, claiming that many members would not be able to vote at all in the election.
Ms Abbott said: “A lot of people, particularly in London, have said they have not had their ballots yet.
“So I am going to take this up with Labour Party headquarters this morning because it is obviously a problem.”
The discrepancy is unlikely to make a significant impact on the election itself, though if the result is particularly clos, a losing candidate may have an inclination to call it into question.
The three-month contest for Gordon Brown’s successor finally comes to an end today, though the result will not be revealed until Saturday, on the eve of the Labour conference.
Ms Abbott, though unlikely to win outright, has been tipped by analysts to do better than expected.
