Postal ballots have run into more problems in Bolton

With three days to go, European election turnout in the North West is already higher, at 25%, than in 1999, when it was 19.5%.

Several cities, including Leeds, Manchester and Sunderland are reporting improved participation in local polls.

People using postal ballots are being urged to send their votes on Tuesday to make sure they arrive in time.

Some areas are still reporting problems with the trials, which affect 14m people across the north of England and East Midlands

The polls do not close until 2200 BST on Thursday but election officials say people should post their vote now.

Meanwhile, a new opinion poll suggests the two biggest parties are losing support to their smaller rivals.

Mail problems

Separate voting figures for local and European polls are not yet available in each of the four areas - North West, North East, East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber - involved in all-postal trials.

TURNOUT SO FAR Leeds - 30% Manchester - 23% Liverpool - 23.68% Sunderland - 34.5% Sheffield - 28% Newcastle - 25.49% Hull - 19% Bradford - 24.98%

But early indications suggest turnout is up across the board.

About 160,000 people , or 30% of the electorate, have already cast their vote in Leeds, one of the largest areas taking part in the trial, compared to last year's local election turnout of 29.84%.

Turnout in Liverpool is 23.68%, compared to last year's final tally of just under 20%.

Manchester City Council is reporting a turnout of 23% so far, compared to 22% in total last time.

Across the North West as a whole, the largest area to take part in all-postal trials, European election turnout is 25%, so far compared to 19.5% in total in 1999.

Problems

But some areas are still experiencing problems, with reports of people filling in the "identity verification" section of the ballot form incorrectly.

"When we opened the first batch of ballot papers last Thursday, we found there was about 4.8%, or about 2,300 forms, that had something wrong with them.

"And that was out of just over 50,000 votes.

"We were able to turn those round and send them back to the voters to give them a second opportunity to complete the ballot form and have their vote properly accounted for," Sunderland's returning officer Ged Fitzgerald told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

The city is reporting a turnout so far of 34.5%, compared to 19.5% total in the last European elections.

Leeds' returning officer Paul Rogerson said he expected turnout to reach the "low 40s," if ballot papers continued arriving at a similar rate over the next two days.

Identity

But he also reported problems with identity verification and said some elderly people had objected to their vote being witnessed.

Meanwhile, Bolton council is preparing two emergency voting stations because 3,000 people had not received their ballot forms.

ELECTION STAKES 166 local councils in England and Wales 78 UK MEPs London mayor and assembly More voting forms fail to arrive Voters' guide

A further 1,500 forms are being hand delivered in what opposition parties said was the latest debacle in the postal voting "shambles".

The government says the inevitable problems can be "solved satisfactorily".

Elections are taking place in 166 local English and Welsh councils, as well as for London's mayor and assembly.

All UK voters are also choosing their members of the European Parliament.

Poll positions

A Populus opinion poll for the Times newspaper on Tuesday suggests the biggest two political parties will win less than half of the votes for the first time in the European elections.

The telephone poll of 1,004 people on 4-6 June puts Labour on between 25% and 26% and the Tories on 24%.

POLL FINDINGS Labour 25-26% Tory: 24% Lib Dem: 16-18% UKIP: 13% Greens: 8-9% BNP: 3-4% Source: Populus/The Times

The Liberal Democrats meanwhile are on 16-18% while the poll suggests the UK Independence Party could win around 13% of the vote. The Greens are put at 8 or 9% and the British National Party at 3-4%.

Ex-television host and UKIP candidate Robert Kilroy-Silk said much of the attention had been on how the party had "rattled the Tory cage".

But he said: "The Labour vote is haemorrhaging too."

'No worries'

Conservative leader Michael Howard will use a visit to Milton Keynes on Tuesday to argue greenfield land is under threat from building projects.

On Monday he insisted he was not "in the slightest" bit worried by the UKIP threat.

"We have a clear view of what's best for Britain," he said, arguing that the Tories steered a middle course between pulling out of Europe and giving more powers to Brussels.

Tony Blair told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he "hoped" he was not becoming an obstacle to people voting Labour, but he added: "We will have to wait and see".

He said the economy was stronger, there were more jobs, investment in the health service and schools under New Labour.

But he said he could not explain why one Labour leaflet in London did not include a photograph of him.

Iraq divisions

The Liberal Democrats meanwhile are honing in on what they see as Mr Blair's key weak spot - the Iraq war.

The party is launching a new poster campaign on Tuesday expected to attack the war decision and Mr Blair's close relationship to US President George Bush.

Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy on Tuesday said: "People's over-arching concern about the war is a factor in such a big democratic ballot as this one."

The Iraq conflict has been a major plank of the Green Party's campaign too but on Tuesday it is concentrating on calls for more action on climate change.