No Friday counting for voters in NE Cambs says constituency returning officer

THE returning officer for NE Cambs confirmed today that votes in Fenland will continue to be counted on election night. Tim Pilsbury said he would not be going the way of some other constituencies- including neighbouring Norfolk- who will postpone the cou

THE returning officer for NE Cambs confirmed today that votes in Fenland will continue to be counted on election night.

Tim Pilsbury said he would not be going the way of some other constituencies- including neighbouring Norfolk- who will postpone the count until the following day.

King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council confirmed it planned Friday counts for the South West Norfolk and North West Norfolk.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "We understand why some would want to put off the count until Friday, but a lot of councils pride themselves on a quick and accurate count and would want to continue that. There is also quite a lot of competitiveness out there to get the first result out."

Charles Clarke, Labour MP for Norwich North, said: "I hope that the local authorities will decide to carry out the counts on the Thursday night, as has been traditional.

"It both maintains a correct sense of excitement and interest in the election result and also enables the necessary constitutional and political judgements to be made quickly and in the national interest."

In many areas, however, the traditional late-night television coverage of the general election could be under threat because of moves to count votes the following day rather than on the night itself.

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