MORE than 4,500 people in the Leigh constituency have dropped off the electoral register in just one year, according to figures released by Wigan Council.

The figures reveal that 4,627 people in Leigh and 10,488 people in the whole borough are missing from the register which not only allows people to vote but forms the basis of boundary reviews.

It is also the list from which juries are drawn and being on it is fundamental for securing mortgages and credit.

The system of registering to vote is moving to the new Individual Electoral Registration (IER) system and analysis by the Electoral Commission suggests that private renters, young people and students were the least likely to be transferred automatically to the new registers.

Leigh MP Andy Burnham said: “These figures raise fundamental questions about the health of our democracy.

“It is already a civic duty to register to vote. Failure to register when invited to do so can lead to a fine. But the time has now have come to think differently about voter registration.

“Government departments have enormous amounts of data about us at their disposal. Surely it is possible to have a system in place where people are automatically placed on the register on the basis of being on council tax lists, housing benefit databases or having applied for a passport or driving licence?”

He has joined forces with Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy to encourage residents to register by visiting gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Ms Fovargue said: “In the longer term we will need to think radically, but we also need to desperately do all we can to get people registered in the short term.

“An election fought on a register depleted of voters lacks legitimacy.

“The full weight of the government, councils and all of us who care about a healthy democracy needs to be thrown behind getting as many people on the register by next May.”