Harlow's Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Lorna Spenceley has called on the town's Returning Officer, Malcolm Morley, to review the management of last week's election count in Harlow.

Harlow was the last constituency in the country to declare a result, after Thursday night's election count was suspended at 6 o'clock the following morning, to resume the day after. The result - a win by a mere 97 votes for Labour - was not declared until almost lunchtime on Saturday.

Mrs Spenceley said in her letter to the Returning Officer:

"Harlow is a compact, urban district, with a few nearby villages within easy reach of the town centre. When remote constituencies such as Orkney & Shetland or the Western Isles can still declare before us, there must be something wrong."

She has strongly urged Mr Morley to arrange for a thorough review of the management of the election count to take place to ensure that lessons are learned and that the issues at the root of Thursday's events are resolved satisfactorily before the next election count.