Paul Myners, former chief executive of Gartmore, the fund manager, who drew up the plans, also recommends the introduction of electronic voting for Britain's biggest companies.

Mr Myners said that the present voting system was like "old pipework, which could have been more effectively maintained over the years, but which has now sprung a leak."

He said that many shareholder votes "disappeared" because of antiquated systems and that it would cost only "a nominal" amount for companies to introduce electronic voting systems.

The UK's biggest companies, he said, should all aim to accept electronic votes by 2005.

Mr Myners said that he did "not expect this to get stuck in the mire" and gave warning that he would be prepared to take the issue up with ministers if progress was not made on his proposals.

The proposals, contained in a "review of the impediments to voting UK shares," also recommend that institutional fund managers give their clients usually pension funds details of their voting records.

However, Mr Myners fell short of recommending that fund managers make their voting records available to a wider audience, and did not advocate making voting compulsory.

Mr Myners said that he did not expect much opposition to the proposals, which are endorsed by the Investment Managers Association, the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds all organisations that represent shareholders.

However, he said that plans for companies to reveal "conscious abstentions", could cause some controversy. Royal Bank of Scotland, for instance, refused to make public the proportion of shareholder abstentions at this year's annual meeting.

RBS yesterday pointed out that the Combined Code governing company boards had in any case been changed to make it compulsory for companies to reveal abstentions. "We will follow this," a spokesman said.

Mr Myners said that "conscious abstentions" could be used by investors to warn companies about issues, but said he hoped that shareholders would choose to vote either for or against company resolutions.

The former Gartmore chief executive said that it would be impractical to make voting compulsory for shareholders. He pointed out that a significant proportion of shareholders were retail investors or were from abroad, making it difficult for them to vote on company issues.

Jacqui Smith, the minister responsible for corporate governance, said: "Voting is the vital way that shareholders engage with companies. I hope all will welcome and implement the recommendations. For the Governments part, I will of course be considering the legislative process for recommendations for changes in the law."

Manifest, the electronic proxy voting agency, said: "Mr Myners leadership in driving the review forward has been immensely beneficial for all concerned. Electronic voting is very important to those participants who are already making full use of proxy voting systems."

PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE VOTING