Controversial all-postal voting for elections appears to be off the agenda after pilot schemes in South Lakeland and across the North West during June's local government and European elections revealed flaws in the system.

The Electoral Commission published its report this week on the all-postal voting schemes in the North West, the East Midlands and the Yorkshire and Humber regions.

The commission reported that voter turnout for the European elections doubled in the North West compared with the 1999 ballot. But the commission said the improvement, up from 19.4 per cent in 1999 to 41.46 per cent this year, could not be solely attributed to postal voting and said the pilot schemes had revealed problems with printing the complex ballot papers and that too many people found the paperwork confusing.

There were, however, no more allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice than usual and only two investigations in the country have led to arrests.

The report concludes that: "Postal voting has a role to playbut the way in which postal voting has worked to date is not necessarily the way forward.

"All-postal voting should not be pursued in the UKbut postal voting should remain part of the UK electoral system." In other words, postal voting should remain an option alongside the use of traditional polling stations, but "all-postal" voting should not be pursued.

South Lakeland itself escaped the technical printing problems which affected other parts of the region such as Bolton.

Mike Jones, acting chief executive at South Lakeland District Council and returning officer for local government elections in the area, said: "We didn't experience the same problems with postal voting that occurred in other areas. In fact we had no more problems than we do with the traditional method of polling stations. We were pleased that postal voting led to an increased turnout and would support freedom of choice for voters in future elections."

David Lammy, Minister for Constitutional Affairs, said the Government welcomed the commission's findings and said: "We are very keen to learn the lessons of the pilot and will pay close attention to the commission's recommendations. In particular, we note the importance the commission attaches to voter choice in electoral methods."