PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice has renewed his call for individual voter registration.

He says the current system where a designated head of household completes the voter registration form for everyone living at the address is an anchronism and open to abuse.

The MP spoke out as the election watchdog, the Electoral Commission, rec-ommended that there should be no further experiments with electronic voting without the key safeguard of individual registration.

The MP said: "My long held preference is for people to vote at the polling station, but perhaps we could vote at weekends rather than on the traditional Thursday.

"I believe that going to vote in person is a public statement of our civic duty.

"But if the government is going to consider significant changes to the way we vote, these should have the support of the Electoral Commission and the backing of the other main political parties represented in Parliament.

"Individual voter registration is an absolute pre-requisite."