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Police investigate cases of suspected voter fraud in Glasgow

The offence occurs when a person votes as someone else

Laura Paterson
Friday 05 July 2024 03:50 BST
Police accompanying ballot boxes as they are carried in to the Emirates Arena in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Police accompanying ballot boxes as they are carried in to the Emirates Arena in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

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Police in Glasgow are investigating cases of suspected voter fraud.

Glasgow City Council reported four cases of alleged “personation” following Thursday’s poll.

The offence occurs when a person votes as someone else.

It is understood that of the alleged incidents, two are being investigated in the Glasgow South West seat and one in Glasgow West.

A spokesman for the council said: “Over the course of the day, we have received four reports of potential personation at polling places.

“The police subsequently asked us to extract three ballot papers from the count and this was done when the relevant ballot boxes arrived at the count centre.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said he is “confident” his party will win a majority in Scotland.

Speaking as he arrived at the Glasgow count, Mr Sarwar said the push for change will begin on Friday.

It comes as his party beat the SNP in the early results in Scotland, with substantial swings to Labour.

“I’m confident we’re going to win this election in Scotland and I’m confident we’ll have a majority in Scotland,” he said.

Votes are counted at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, during the count for Glasgow Central and Glasgow South constituencies
Votes are counted at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, during the count for Glasgow Central and Glasgow South constituencies (PA Wire)

Among those winners was former minister Douglas Alexander, who will return to Westminster for the first time since losing his previous seat in 2015.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has taken Kilmarnock and Loudon, West Dunbartonshire, Paisley and Renfrewshire South and East Kilbride and Strathaven in the early hours of Friday morning, each with substantial swings between the two parties.

But the early story was found in Lothian East, where the former international development secretary won with 23,555 after losing his seat in 2015.

The results come as the BBC/ITV/Sky exit poll predicted a 170-seat majority for Labour across the UK, with the SNP dropping to just 10 seats, and a party source suggested it could lose all three of its seats in Edinburgh.

Lillian Jones took Kilmarnock and Loudon from the SNP’s Alan Brown, winning 19,065 votes.

Mr Brown had held the seat since 2015.

Just minutes later, Labour won the West Dunbartonshire seat from the SNP, unseating Martin Docherty-Hughes, with Douglas McAllister taking 19,312 votes.

While Johanna Baxter won 19,583 to defeat the SNP in the seat vacated by former deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black.

Elsewhere, the SNP’s Kirsty Blackman retained her Aberdeen North seat.

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