The discovery of a wedge of polling cards found dumped in a skip in North Oxford just weeks before the county council elections on June 4 is cause for concern.

Yes, they were duplicates and, as far as we know, those whose address appeared on the cards got to cast a legitimate vote.

But at a time when rumour and suspicion surrounds the result in East Oxford, this discovery does nothing to restore faith in an already damaged system.

Oxford City Council said it was launching an immediate inquiry.

This is the right thing to do.

And when they find out exactly what happened, they should make their findings very public.