Clegg in hunt for 'missing' voters

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants to get missing voters registered on the electoral roll
12 April 2012

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will set out plans to get millions of "missing" voters to register on the electoral roll.

In a speech in Westminster, Mr Clegg will say that local authorities are to be given the power to compare the electoral roll with other publicly available databases in order to try to identify eligible voters who have not registered.

Addressing the Political Studies Association and the Hansard Society, he will say that pilot "data-matching schemes" will start next year and will be rolled out across the country if they prove a success.

Mr Clegg will say that while voter registration rates in the UK are relatively good, it is estimated that up 3.5 million people - more than the adult population of Greater Manchester and Birmingham combined - still have not done so.

"It's true that around 90% of people are registered, and the registration rate does seem to have stabilised after a decline in the last decade, but it is not good enough to simply ignore the millions who aren't," he will say, according to an advance extract of his speech.

"Especially when you look more closely at where the problem is worst: among the young; among black and ethnic minority communities; in areas with high social deprivation.

"The coalition Government is clear: these missing millions must be given back their voice."

Mr Clegg will also use his speech to highlight the coalition's plans for more frequent reviews of electoral boundaries, and to tackle electoral fraud by speeding up the introduction of individual - as opposed to household - registration.

"People must have confidence in the system and know that it is secure against fraud," he will say.

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