Leader – On a roll?

Politicians are all as bad as each other; the whole system is rotten. So no point even bothering to register to vote, right?

If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re in the same place as a lot of people. It is estimated that over a million eligible electors across London are currently AWOL from the voter roll.

But there are three good reasons why you should consider registering to vote by the deadline of 26 November.

First, you never know what might happen between now and election day on 12 December. Thousands of people at every election find themselves in the awkward position of suddenly deciding they’ve got something to vote about but not being able to tick that box on the ballot paper because they have failed to sign up. Don’t be one of these unfortunates.

Secondly, if you were a politician, why would you bother to devise policies that catered to young people, to groups who move around a lot, or to those on low incomes when you knew full well that smallish portions of them would come out at election time? You’d think mainly about groups with high turnout; those are the people who clamour to be heard, so those are the people who are heard. Don’t be one of the unheard.

Finally, electoral registration is mandatory in the UK, and you can be slapped with a £1,000 fine for ignoring that letter you got from the Electoral Registration Officer. Don’t be down a grand.

Voter registration is quick and easy. when you get five minutes, just go to gov.uk/register-to-vote