COUNTING the votes at the last general election took eight times as long in Andover as it did in one of the Sunderland constituencies - but it should be quicker next time, Test Valley borough councillors were informed by chief executive Alan Jones.

Sunderland managed to achieves its first place last year, according to Mr Jones, by verifying the number of votes cast, counting the few votes achieved by the Lib-Dems and Conservatives, then subtracting them from the total to give the Labour total.

In areas where elections are more closely fought than Sunderland, such as Eastleigh, a speedier vote was achieved by employing 120 counters; which was double the number used in Andover.

Sir George Young raised the slowness of the count following the 1997 and 2001 election when Andover declared at about 6am.

"It wasn't the slowest count but I'm not particularly proud of it," said Mr Jones.

"I have come up with a batch of things that we can employ safely to improve the speed of the count." At recent counts the borough council has strictly adhered to the rules and produced a very accurate result but at the next election, the borough council poll in 2003, the plan was to 'cut a few corners' but still come up with a fair and accurate result.

But Mr Jones reminded councillors that the count was the responsibility of the returning officer, not the MP, the councillors or the press. "You don't end up in court for being late but for being wrong," he added.