Warsi under fire over electoral fraud claims

Shadow Lords Leader Baroness Royall of Blaisdon said at House of Lords question time that high public office came with responsibilities and that allegations about fraud should be reported to the police.

And Labour's Lord Hughes of Woodside called on Yorkshire peer Lady Warsi, who was absent from the chamber, to come to the Lords to apologise for her comments.

But former Northern Ireland First Minister Lord Trimble said he had heard similar allegations nearly 20 years ago and accused politicians of failing to deal with a serious problem.

Lady Warsi told the New Statesman last week that there were "at least three seats where we lost, where we didn't gain the seat, based on electoral fraud".

She refused to identify the seats concerned but said the problems were "predominantly within the Asian community" and that Labour had been the beneficiary.

Justice Minister Lord McNally said the Government had reported no evidence of electoral fraud but that other organisations or people had made specific complaints about "a range of constituencies" which were being investigated.

Lady Royall said: "High public office, including chairmanship of a party and membership of the Cabinet, comes with real responsibilities and if serious allegations are made about electoral fraud then there is a responsibility to report them to the police."

She added that she "regretted" Lady Warsi's absence from the chamber.