Postal vote delays: SNP say situation ‘not good enough’

Local councils are responsible for sending postal ballot forms to voters but some have blamed Royal Mail for delays.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We have no backlog of postal votes.

“Where concerns have been raised, we have investigated and confirmed ballot packs are being delivered as soon as they arrive in our network.

“We have a specialist elections team that plans every aspect of the elections delivery programme and works closely with local authorities to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.”

However, Mr Flynn told BBC Breakfast: “I would probably argue with some of the Royal Mail’s sentiments because if there’s no backlog then where’s the postal votes for my constituents?”

Mr Flynn also called for reform of the system.

“We warned the prime minister of this when it became apparent that he was going to choose the election date because of course for a huge majority of the people of Scotland it’s now the school holidays, people are away on holiday,” he said.

“If their postal vote didn’t land in time then they’re now disenfranchised in this election, they’re not able to vote for who they want to represent them at Westminster, whether that’s the SNP or otherwise.”