Labour councillors in Stockport have accused the Government of moving the goalposts amid concerns that plans for individual voter registration will leave thousands of local residents disenfranchised from the democratic process.

A motion to the Council meeting on 29^th October asks for Stockport Council to ‘take every practicable step…to ensure that as many local residents are registered to vote as possible’.

The move comes in the wake of Government plans to bring forward the full implementation of individual electoral registration by a year, to 1^st December 2015. This has raised concerns that many of the 3,953 Stockport electors who remain unconfirmed will fall off the register.

Councillor Colin Foster, Labour Spokesperson for Young People and Voter Registration said ‘The Government shouldn’t be moving the goalposts like they have done – whatever the rationale for the changes, the implementation of them has been shambolic and will lead to people who have been able to vote in the past now not being registered.

‘These ill-thought through and rushed changes also ignore the wider problems of not being on the electoral register which include making it harder to get a credit card or a mobile phone contract and increasing the possibility of people receiving an £80 fine.’

‘Whichever political party you represent, the principle that those who are legally entitled to vote should be able to do so in a democratic society should be central to everything you do – but these plans could mean up to 1 million people nationally fall off the electoral register.’

Stockport Labour Group is encouraging all residents to register to vote, something which can now be done in less than three minutes online by visiting www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Individual electoral registration, which replaces the system of registering to vote by household, was initially due to be fully introduced by 1^st December 2016.

However on 16^th July, the Government issued an order which meant this date is now to be brought forward by a year, subject to approval by both Houses of Parliament this autumn.