THE Labour party is facing a voting scandal on the eve of this week’s local elections after an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times.

Keith Wakefield, the leader of the Labour group on Leeds city council, told party canvassers to help voters, many of whom were elderly, to complete their postal ballots. Student activists, including an undercover reporter, were then told by another councillor to take away the postal voting forms, hide them as they left people’s homes and only post them later if they were for Labour.

The councillor, Graham Hyde, admitted, in a secretly tape-recorded meeting, that he thought the instructions to collect the postal votes were “illegal”. Hyde, a parliamentary aide to a former Labour whip, warned the student activists that after collecting votes: “Don’t get caught with any on you. We are not supposed to collect them.” He even joked about flushing postal ballots down the lavatory if they were for the Liberal Democrats.

Responding to the Sunday Times revelations, David Crompton, assistant chief constable of West Yorkshire, said: “This is extremely sharp practice and a clear breach of the guidelines.”

Police say they will study a dossier of the newspaper’s evidence. Martin Hamilton, of the Leeds Liberal Democrats, said: “I want the police to follow this up urgently.”

It is the first hard evidence of Labour flouting the official electoral code of conduct amid desperation over the party’s prospects in Thursday’s polls. Last week residents in the affected area said they felt pressured by Labour officials to hand over postal votes.

Both Wakefield and Hyde deny improper behaviour.

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