Officials examine plans to reduce the number of polling stations and cut voting hours

Whitehall officials are considering plans to cut the cost of elections by closing thousands of polling stations and by reducing voting hours.

A leaked working paper drawn up by the Ministry of Justice for the Treasury, suggested the plans could save up to £65m.

Other options under consideration include cutting staff, abandoning polling cards in favour electronic reminders and reducing security at election night counts.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said elections were constantly under review ""to ensure that they meet the needs of voters and are run as efficiently as possible. But any changes to electoral procedures require careful consideration and a rigorous analysis of the evidence.

"This is a working paper collating ideas for further consideration and is part of an ongoing dialogue about election costs. It doesn't represent agreed Government policy. If any of the ideas merit further development, advice would be put to ministers and wider consultation would follow as necessary."

But democracy campaigners reacted angrily to the proposals. Ken Ritchie, of the Electoral Reform Society, said: "The health of the democratic process is more important than saving peanuts. We risk turning an economic recession into a political one."

Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: "There is no more fundamental right in a democracy than that people should have the ability to choose the people who represent them. We must ensure that this right is not jeopardised."

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