Swindon's election returning officer, Susie Kemp, should stand down - and so, possibly should all of Highworth's town councillors.

That's the view of Jim Grant, the leader of the Labour group on Swindon Borough Council.

Coun Grant was speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire about the miscounting of votes last Friday morning in the election for the town's council, which saw results announced with some councillors receiving more votes than ballots were issued.

He said: "You can't have a recount - it's got to be ordered by the High Court if people petition it. There are some preparing to do that, which will cost an absurd amount of money.

"I think that Swindon Borough Council should cover the cost of a petition to the High Court. This is entirely down to the borough council's mistake."

A cheaper alternative, which Coun Grant said he'd prefer would be for all the newly elected councillors on the town council to resign en masse, triggering a new election.

He said: "We don't know whether the election is valid. There may be some people elected to the council who shouldn't have been, and some people sitting at home who should be on the council who aren't going to be."

Whatever happens Coun Grant thinks Swindon Borough Council's returning officer Susie Kemp, who is also the authority's chief executive, should step down from her role overseeing elections: "I think she should resign just as returning officer. She should take responsibility for this whole debacle.

"If she didn't do that, then I think we 'd have to think about whether the Labour group could support her in her role as chief executive."

Initially, when it emerged that 42,000 votes had been 'counted' when a maximum of 37,000 could have been cast Swindon Borough Council said an error had been made, but it wouldn't have affected any results.

Now it admits it can't be sure the right people were announced as winners, but it can't count the votes again unless ordered to by the High Court.

Coun David Renard, Conservative leader of Swindon Borough Council, said: “Nobody went to see the returning officer before the count was declared to register any objection. I think Coun Grant and his colleagues should have been paying more attention to what was going on.”

He said the lesson was that parish council counts should not be declared on the same night as the borough ward council counts.

“This is ultimately a matter for the returning officer,” Coun Renard added.

On Wednesday night, Highworth voters met outside the town council offices to protest the count cock-up. Inside, Ms Kemp was explaining to council candidates how the error had arisen.

Resident Adrian Young said of the count: “I think it’s just a cock-up. But they have to sort it out. I don’t think the people of Highworth are going to stand for something that’s wrong.”

Sue Dyer added: “I don’t think my grandmother as a suffragette went on marches a century ago only for someone at Swindon Borough Council to do this. I’m sure the result is incorrect.”

Highworth Town Council's AGM is scheduled for Tuesday May 14.