Labour in Twitter vote result probe

Police were last night investigating an alleged breach of electoral law after Labour's Kerry McCarthy revealed a sample of postal votes on Twitter.

The parliamentary candidate for Bristol East was reported to Avon and Somerset Police by Bristol City Council, after she posted the results of some 300 votes to her 5,700 followers.

Ms McCarthy's deleted post said: "First PVs opened in east Bristol, our sample: Eng Dems **; Greens **; UKIP **; TUSC**; BNP ** Lib Dem **; Tory **; Labour **. gameON!

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It is illegal to reveal the votes cast before the end of polling day as this may influence the outcome of the election.

A police spokesman confirmed they were investigating an alleged breach of electoral law.

The council said the incident was a "criminal matter".

Ms McCarthy said after hearing the results of a random and unscientific sample of postal votes, she posted them on Twitter because it was not offical and she thought of it as being akin to canvassing information.

She added: "It was a thoughtless thing to do, and I very quickly realised that it was not appropriate to put such information in the public domain."

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