Badenoch attacks local council over thousands of missing postal votes

Kemi Badenoch attacked her local council over missing postal ballots on Thursday.

Mrs Badenoch, the Business and Trade Secretary, claimed the independent-run Uttlesford council had been “unable to carry out basic functions competently” by “forgetting” to send out ballot papers.

Thousands of people across the country were denied their chance to vote in Thursday’s election, with as many as 120 constituencies affected by delayed and missing ballots.

Election officials have argued that campaigns should be made five days longer in order to give councils more time to register voters and avoid similar chaos at future elections.

Mrs Badenoch, a Conservative leadership hopeful if Rishi Sunak steps aside, is standing as the candidate in North West Essex, where more than 2,600 postal ballots were not sent out in time because of a “human error”.

The head of the local council has previously said he was “mortified” by the mistake and would consider his position. The blunder has raised the prospect that the election in the seat could potentially be subject to a challenge if the result is close.

On Thursday afternoon, Mrs Badenoch posted on X, formerly Twitter:

She added: “Five years ago, all but four Conservatives on Uttlesford council were voted out. People wanted ‘Change’. Instead, they got ‘Change for the worse’, electing an independent residents group who ran a blame-the-Tories campaign.

“The community is now saddled with a council leadership unable to carry out basic functions competently.”

She criticised the council for having “foolishly” sued Stansted Airport and lost, and for not renewing a bin contract, adding: “Now they’ve potentially disenfranchised up to 2,600 postal voters by forgetting to send them their ballot papers.”

She added: “Don’t change for the worse,” and urged people to vote Conservative.

The council is currently run by Residents for Uttlesford, which has 22 seats to the Tories’ 11.

Although Mrs Badenoch won the constituency with a 27,594 majority at the last election, the Tory vote is being squeezed by Labour, Reform and the Liberal Democrats, and the seat is now considered marginal by some polls.

If a close result was contested, it could upset a future Tory leadership race, with Mrs Badenoch considered a leading contender to take over the party if Mr Sunak loses the election.

If a by-election was ordered, she would not be considered an MP until it was complete, making her ineligible to stand in a leadership contest.

Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that newly-elected MPs face having their victories challenged in the courts because of the postal ballot chaos.

A surge in demand for remote voting compared to previous elections has put pressure on councils, printers and Royal Mail to deliver all the ballots on time. As many as 10 million voters are expected to have voted by post on Thursday.

Peter Stanyon, the chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, which represents voting officials, said the campaign should be made five days longer in order to give councils time to register voters.

An election takes place 25 working days after Parliament is dissolved, but Mr Stanyon thinks this should be extended to 30 days, in order to allow officials more time to administer votes, saying: “That will give a longer period for all of the administration.”

Returning officers have to wait until nominations have closed in order to print ballots with the candidates’ details on them. In this election, nominations closed on June 7, but voters could apply for a postal ballot until June 19.

The day before the election was announced, there were 527 applications for a postal vote, but after Mr Sunak’s statement on May 22, numbers rocketed to more than 60,000.

On June 18, the final day in this election cycle on which voters could apply for a postal ballot, there were more than 136,000 applications.

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Mr Stanyon also suggested returning officers should be allowed to issue proxy votes to those who have a postal ballot, if they are satisfied that the original vote cannot be returned in time.

“It’s effectively providing a solution to assist the voter, where at this current stage, they [returning officers] can only assist them by replacing. It will be a benefit rather than an additional burden,” Mr Stanyon said.

In its report after the 2019 election, the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for overseeing proceedings, said that overseas voters had not been receiving their postal ballots on time. The problem was also highlighted in its 2015 and 2017 post-election reports and in its research after the Brexit referendum.

The body has said that the postal voting problems will form part of its post-election research, including responses from electoral officials and voters.

On Thursday, more people reported being unable to vote because their postal ballots had not arrived in time.

The issue has “annoyed” voters, The Telegraph understands, with activists from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats being confronted about it on doorsteps while campaigning.

Sandra Javens, 75, and her husband Dave, who live in Westbourne, West Sussex, had applied to vote by post ahead of the beginning of their holiday on June 20. But they did not receive their ballots in time, and said that they “haven’t been given a choice and that’s not right”.

Mrs Javens said she was told by a postman that they were “prioritising parcels at the moment”. Royal Mail denied that parcels were being prioritised and said there are no delays with either parcels or mail in West Sussex.

Izzy Knowles, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, said that her 94-year-old father, who recently relocated from Oxford to Birmingham, had not been processed as a postal voter by the council.

This meant that he did not receive a postal ballot, and had to travel to a polling station with the help of his children, in order to cast his vote.

Ms Knowles said: “We ended up, me and my brother, taking him to the polling station to vote.”

Birmingham City Council was contacted for comment. Uttlesford Council and Residents for Uttlesford were both contacted for comment.