Cost-cutting election plans dropped

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Mr Straw said he had not been aware of the proposals, included in a working paper sent to the Treasury, which infuriated democracy campaigners when they were revealed on Thursday night.

In a statement, he said: "Officials need the space to examine all possibilities before they put proposals to ministers. This examination of the costs of elections comes within that category."

He added: "I and other ministers had absolutely no knowledge about this exercise. I make no complaint about that but now that it has gone public I make clear what I would have told officials privately: that these proposals are simply unacceptable. The exercise has therefore ended. Democracy has to be paid for."

The document, seen by the Times, suggested staff could also be cut back, traditional polling cards abandoned in favour of electronic reminders and security cut back at election night counts in a bid to slash costs by up to £65 million.

An MoJ spokeswoman said it was "a working paper collating ideas for further consideration and is part of an ongoing dialogue about election costs."

But the proposals drew fierce condemnation from many interested groups amid fears they could further depress record-low turnouts of recent years.

"At any time officials will quite properly be giving consideration to measures which can deliver a given value of service at low cost," Mr Straw said.

"It is in the nature of things that ministers will not be aware of many of these examinations unless and until there is a serious proposal for change."