Tory meets police over

Philip Allott, who fought Halifax for the Tories in May, has handed police a five-page dossier detailing allegations of voting irregularity in the constituency, which Labour narrowly held on to.

He is dissatisfied with the police response so far but says he is to meet police and Calderdale's returning officer and has vowed to take the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission if he is not satisfied with their response.

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Tory conference, Mr Allott claimed that incidents included people allegedly voting from empty properties in the constituency, voters claiming someone had voted on their behalf and people signing more than one postal voting form.

His dossier includes testimony from voters who he says are willing to speak to police. He described some of the activities he discovered as "outrageous", but said police had told him they could not take action because the claims were based on "unsubstantiated third party allegations".

Labour has accused the Tories of sour grapes after losing and MP Linda Riordan, who won the seat, has dismissed suggestions electoral fraud helped her win the seat as "absolutely ridiculous".