Bruce George, a senior Labour MP in the last parliament and former president of the parliamentary assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which oversees elections around the world, said he could not rule out fraud affecting the general election result.

George, who oversaw the recent controversial Ukrainian elections, said: “I think we need to have an inquiry and then introduce legislation to minimise the risks of fraud in Birmingham, Blackburn and 15 to 20 other cities where I am aware that cheating is taking place.

“The easier it is to get a postal vote, the more opportunity there is for vote-rigging, and it’s going on. We all know where it is going on and we all know who is doing it.”

George, one of Britain’s most senior representatives on the OSCE, said the government should have introduced laws to stop the system “degenerating”.

Last week the OSCE announced that it would be sending a 10-strong team to Britain to monitor the election for a week before polling day. It is believed to be the first time that a British general election will be subject to formal international monitoring.

Fears of voting fraud have escalated since Labour changed the rules in 2001 to allow anyone to apply for a postal vote. The police want voters to register individually on the electoral roll with people forced to produce evidence of their identity before being allowed to vote.

Under the current system electors are registered by households, which has given rise to incidents of fraud.

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