Voting turnouts

Any ideas that thresholds should be imposed for trade union ballots should have been scotched by the low turnouts in the police commissioner elections, says the PCS public and commercial services union.

BBC research showed that overall turnout in November’s police chief ballots was about 14.9%.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the turnouts should “sound the death knell for the shrill Tory-led cries for thresholds for union ballots”.

He added that the union has long argued for alternative voting methods to be allowed in union votes. These include “secure, independently verified, online, phone and workplace polling”.