[Posted this at 17.25 but for some reason it disappeared from the front page]

The City of London (which has a rather unusual system of local government) recently saw a common council bi-election in the Farringdon Ward. The results were reasonably close with the winner, Clare James, receiving 103 votes and the loser, Graeme Smith, receiving 76; a mere 27 votes between them.

Shockingly though it has it has become clear this evening that Royal Mail withheld 62 postal ballots until after polling day. Their reason for withholding the ballots apparently was the City of London Corporation’s failure to pay the balance on its free post account in time.

Would these ballots have made a difference? Quite possibly. But whatever the result would have been with these ballots included it is clear that Royal Mail has a lot of questions to answer, especially given the proximity of May 1st.