Postal votes delay result of Hornsey and Wood Green

A LATE batch of postal votes is believed to have delayed the outcome of the Hornsey and Wood Green election by more than two hours, sources say. Council workers made a late sweep of local postal sorting offices to ensure they had every last postal vote. T

A LATE batch of postal votes is believed to have delayed the outcome of the Hornsey and Wood Green election by more than two hours, sources say.

Council workers made a late sweep of local postal sorting offices to ensure they had every last postal vote.

This, combined with high voter turnout at the end of the polls, means a large batch of poll cards have only just arrived (at 2.30am), despite the count beginning at 10pm, said a council spokeswoman.

These votes need to be verified before they can be counted.

The majority of the other ballots have now been verified and counting is due to begin in the next 10 minutes.

The Tottenham count is due to begin first, we understand.

Candidates say this constitutes a major hold up as the result was originally predicted to arrive at 2.30am.

Sources are now predicting a 5am finish.

Conservative party candidate Richard Merrin told the Broadway: "This is astonishing in an inner London constituency.