Increase in people registering to vote in Northampton, according to new statistics

Northampton saw a rise in people registering to vote in 2019, new figures show.

The Electoral Commission welcomed a record-high number of registrations across the UK, but warned the system needs modernising to make applications "simpler and more effective" in future.

Office for National Statistics data shows that 166,937 people were registered to vote in Northampton on December 1 last year.

Registrations had increased by 4,001 from December 2018, the ONS figures show, following a smaller rise of 3,056 between 2017 and 2018.

Across the UK, there were 49.2 million registrations at local authority level in 2019, a 2.9% increase from 2018.

Local government electoral registrations include those from EU citizens who can vote in council elections but not elections to parliament.

The same data shows there were 47.1 million parliamentary electoral registrations across the UK last year – the highest ever seen, and a 2.8% increase from 2018.

Neil Park, of the ONS's centre for ageing and demography, said the national rise was partly linked to a busy year of local government, mayoral and European elections, as well as a rise in the number of eligible voters between 2018 and 2019.

"Of course, it culminated in the December 2019 General Election, the first in that month since 1923, and captures the uplift in electoral registrations that is to be expected," he said.

Last year, 3.85 million people joined to voter register between the time MPs voted to approve the December General Election, on October 29, and the registration deadline on November 26, according to the Electoral Commission.

Roughly 660,000 people registered on deadline day alone.

Craig Westwood, director of communications, policy and research at the Electoral Commission, said: “We ran three campaigns to encourage voter registration in 2019, so were pleased to see such a high number of people take action.

"Almost one million more applications were made in the build-up to the 2019 General Election than in 2017, including 660,000 on the final day to register.

“There is more that can be done, though, to make voter registration simpler and more effective."

Mr Westwood said the system can be modernised through "better use of public data sources," with such reforms making it easier both for those wanting to register and for electoral administrations delivering the service.

"We stand ready to work with the UK’s governments to deliver these changes," he added.