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Andrew Grice (edited
Feb 05, 2015
Ed Miliband has described fewer young people registering to vote when they turn 18 as "one of the great scandals" of this government.
Writing in the Independent today, the Labour leader draws on new figures which show less than half of young people are now likely to register when they reach the voting age.
Coinciding with National Voter Registration Day - which hopes to encourage 250,000 people to register before 20 April - Miliband writes: "This is not just a scandal, it is a disaster for our democracy."
Hundreds of thousands of people are losing the right to vote in our country because of decisions taken by ministers to rush through changes in the law.
- Ed Miliband
Labour claims one million people have disappeared from the electoral roll because the government rushed in a switch to individual voter registration.
This general election will have huge consequences for the young. The result will affect education and training at schools, colleges and universities. It will have an impact on the quantity and quality of jobs available. It will affect the rent paid for a first home and the chances of buying one.
Yet it is precisely these young voices which are being silenced. They have not stopped paying the price for this Government, but they are losing the chance to make this Government pay the price for letting down their generation.
- Ed Miliband
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