NEW North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson has praised the election staff at the Tawny Owl and other polling stations for helping as many people as possible to vote.

However, both he and South Swindon colleague Robert Buckland believe it’s time to change polling station procedures to allow for the fact that so many people vote after work rather than during the day.

Mr Tomlinson said: “The polling station had a queue out to the end of the car park, and it was taking approximately 20 minutes to get to the front of that queue.

“The staff were fantastic – they said that anybody who was in the queue before ten could vote.

“They worked extremely hard throughout the day to get people through.”

He added: “The whole priority now is to look at the process of voting. There has been a shift, and most families are now families with two members working.

“We have to acknowledge that society will now vote predominantly between the hours of five and ten.”

Mr Tomlinson pledged that he and Mr Buckland would pass on details of voters’ experiences in Swindon to the bodies in charge of considering changes.

Mr Buckland agreed that there should be more staff at peak times, but added that it was important to acknowledge the hard work of the returning officer and polling station staff in Swindon.