Four years ago, this newspaper uncovered widespread intimidation and postal voting fraud in local elections around the country. Ten months later, ruling on the scandal in Birmingham, Richard Mawrey, QC, presiding over an election court, found six Labour councillors guilty of corruption that would, he said, “disgrace a banana republic”. He declared that the Government's introduction of postal voting on demand was “an open invitation to fraud”. Yet the Government was reluctant to act. The reforms that it eventually made, after the 2005 general election, have now been shown to be utterly inadequate.

Eshaq Khan, a Conservative councillor in Slough, was found guilty yesterday of using bogus postal votes to beat his Labour rival. The 2006 introduction of a requirement for double signatures, one on the application for a postal ballot and another on the ballot itself, proved no deterrent to his creation of hundreds of fake voters. In his judgment yesterday, Mr Mawrey stated that “the opportunities for easy and effective fraud remain substantially as they were in 2005”. The deception was uncovered only because of the incompetence of those involved and the blatant nature of the frauds. The fake ballot papers had been filled out in the same handwriting, and more than half of the Tory votes had arrived by post.

Individual instances of tampering may sound ludicrous, but they are potentially lethal to democracy. Britain used to have one of the most robust, respected voting systems in the world. But in 2001 the Government abolished the requirement to show good cause for needing a postal vote, such as being abroad on business. Anyone could apply for a postal vote, to be sent to any address. The aim was to raise voter turnout: but the method was reckless. The main victims of the policy have been Asian voters, particularly women, who have had their votes stolen by aspiring politicians who have predominantly been of Asian origin. Other law-abiding citizens have also found that their votes no longer count.

All three main parties have now been tainted by these corrupt practices. This should enable them to move beyond mudslinging, to agree that there must be far tighter controls. In Northern Ireland, postal votes are available only to the sick, infirm or those working abroad. All postal ballot papers are scanned in Northern Ireland to compare them with voters' signatures. This system provides a template for serious consideration by ministers.

The electoral register also needs an overhaul. It contains far too many “ghosts” who have died or gone abroad. The Electoral Commission has rightly called for individual registration to replace the current system, which expects householders to keep forms up to date.

The irony is that the bloated nature of the electoral register means that turnout has not actually been as low as politicians have thought - making their rush to loosen the rules look even more naive. Ministers must realise that high turnout is not always a measure of faith in politics, and must act to ensure that the result of the next general election is not open to question. The Council of Europe is already threatening to monitor British elections. It would be disgraceful if international observers felt the need to intervene to ensure that British elections are free and fair.