CLEARLY claims that we have a record vote due to the postal vote are wide off the mark.

What we already have is a record number of invalid and uncounted votes, as voters who returned their ballots without completing the witness forms or by self-declaration have had their ballot papers discounted.

This is an appalling undermining of the integrity of the ballot system, which has been tried and tested since Gladstone's Ballot Act 132 years ago.

Many voters who have gone to the polling stations year after year, refused to cast their votes outside the security and privacy of the polling booth.

It is seriously questionable if the minimal increase in voting turnout could not have been achieved by opening polling stations on a second day, such as Sunday polling as in many continental countries.

This would have enabled many people who work away from home or working long hours to vote, without the security of the ballot being compromised as it clearly has been by Blair's botch up.

Cllrs Steve Radford,

Hazel Williams and

Chris Lenton,

Liberal Party Councillors,

Tuebrook, Liverpool