Halton registered voters increased last year

THE number of people registered to vote in Halton increased last year according to the latest figures.

The Office For National Statistics (ONS) has published the electoral registers for both local authority and parliamentary elections.

The figures showed rises for electors in both constituencies which cover the borough.

Those registered to vote in Labour MP Derek Twigg’s seat of Halton – which includes Widnes, Hale Village and large areas of Runcorn – showed an increase from 70,868 in December 2015 to 71,526 a year later.

Similarly in Conservative MP Graham Evans’s constituency of Weaver Vale – including eastern parts of Runcorn, Daresbury and Frodsham – the number of people on the electoral register rose from 67,134 to 68,324 by last December.

Overall across the UK, the number of UK parliamentary electors increased by just over a million people – or 2.3% – between December 2015 and December 2016.

The ONS believes the rise ‘partly reflects’ high levels of public engagement with the EU referendum.

In the borough’s referendum last June, 57.4% of the electorate in Runcorn and Widnes voted to leave the EU, compared to 42.6% who wanted the UK to remain with the socio-economic union.

The Leave campaign in Halton gained 37,327 votes compared to the 27,678 people who backed remaining in the EU.

Turnout in Runcorn and Widnes was 68.26% and 42 ballot papers were rejected, while nationwide there was a turnout of 72.2%.

The total number of UK local government electors also increased by more than 1.1m – 2.5% – between December 2015 and December 2016.

Of the 650 parliamentary constituencies in the UK, 583 had an increase in parliamentary elec- tors between the two dates.

Neil Park, of the ONS’s population statistics division, said: “In the year to December 2016 the number of people registered to vote in parliamentary and local government elections across the UK increased by around one million.

“In the previous two years the number of people registered to vote had decreased partly as a consequence of the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration.

“A key driver of the increase in the size of the electorate in the year to December 2016 was public engagement with the EU referendum in June 2016.”