Fewer than half the voters turned out at the last Holyrood election

He admitted the large-scale experiment in postal voting in England for this week's Euro and council elections had been hit by problems.

Mr Darling stressed lessons needed to be learned.

The Scottish secretary said it was vital to find new ways of curbing voter apathy.

More than a million people in northern England faced a delay in receiving their papers for the postal pilots after a printing firm missed a Royal Mail deadline.

But Mr Darling said: "Postal voting will be the way in which we will vote in the future.

"Most people want to do more and more from home. It's one of the many ways in which you can get an increased turnout."

Voter apathy

Mr Darling added: "If you want to make sure the representatives that we have are truly representative, then you need a good turnout."

The Electoral Commission said last December that Scotland would not pilot all-postal voting in the European elections.

It was felt Scotland was well suited for the experiment, but the returning officers said they were short on experience and preparation time.

The use of compulsory postal voting in Scotland was backed by the Scottish Parliament's European and external relations committee.