Gloria De Piero MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration, commenting on the release of ONS electoral data, said:

“Today we see that over 600,000 people have dropped off the electoral register in the last year. What’s more, there has been a shocking 40 per cent drop in 16-and 17-year-olds registered to vote.

“This is due to the Tory Government’s rushed changes to electoral registration, against the advice of the independent Electoral Commission who warned it would result in thousands of people falling off the electoral register.

“What’s worse is that the Government are shamelessly taking this as an opportunity to redraw constituency boundaries based on an electorate that is far lower than it should be.

“This is another example of David Cameron and the Conservative Party trying to rig the system for their own political ends. They want to reduce by fifty the number of directly elected Members of Parliament under the guise of reducing the cost of politics, whilst cramming the Lords at taxpayers’ expense.

“This is all further evidence of their partisan plan to give the Tories an unfair advantage at the expense of democracy.”