It's like one team is telling the umpire how they must enforce rules of the game

WATCHDOG'S WARNING ON TORY VOTE PLANS

- MIKEY SMITH

THE desperate Conservative Party has been accused of trying to rig the next election.

The Tories are pushing changes to the Electoral Commission - prompting an extraordinary broadside from the agency in charge of voting.

A spokesman for the independent watchdog compared the Tories to "one team telling the umpire how to enforce the rules of the game".

Ministers have already forced through other changes which critics say favour them at the ballot box.

New rules boost the amount parties can spend to £35 million, allow rich expats to vote and ban anyone who turns up to do so with no photo ID.

They will be tested this year for the first time in a general election which latest polls suggest could be a crushing defeat for the Tories.

Labour MP Clive Betts accused the Conservatives of "political interference" in the Electoral Commission "which has to be independent and has to be seen to be independent".

He went on: "It looks to the public like the Conservative Party are trying to rig the rules."