§ The Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire (Mr. Nick Raynsford)The Government are looking at many ways, including all-postal ballots and e-voting, to modernise our electoral system and to increase the opportunities that people have to vote. To test the robustness of the new options and to build public confidence in them, we have undertaken an extensive programme of pilot innovations at local elections. This is why we are promoting legislation to permit further pilots to be held in a number of regions at the European Parliament and combined local elections in June 2004.
Our focus over the forthcoming months will be on working to ensure that pilots held at the combined elections are successful in delivering elections that are more straightforward and accessible for all electors. As a result, we are currently not minded to approve applications for by-election pilots for the period from 1 April 2004 until 1 August 2004.
Outside that period, our general approach on local authority by-election pilots is that while we will consider, as legislation requires us to do, all applications for pilots at by-elections, we are minded normally to approve such applications only if the proposals are consistent with the recommendations of the Electoral Commission as set out in "The Shape of Elections to Come".