Record-breaking surge in Leeds General Election voter registrations

The deadline for people not already on the electoral roll to sign up was at midnight on Monday.

But even before numbers for the expected last minute rush are totted up, a large surge in registrations has seen the size of the total electorate in Leeds swell to 570,000.

Tom Riordan, who is the Acting Returning Officer for the Leeds parliamentary constituencies, said: “Numbers of people registering to vote in Leeds for this election have broken all previous records.

“We’re still processing a big last-minute rush but as of last week the electorate stood at 570,000 - 10,000 more than the previous record for last year’s EU referendum.

“It’s great to see so many people keen to participate in the democratic process in Leeds and I’d urge everyone to make use of their vote by getting their postal votes in early, appointing a proxy voter or turning out to polling stations on the day.”

As previously reported, a total of 43 candidates will battle for the eight Leeds parliamentary constituencies on June 8.

Leeds West and Leeds North East have the highest number of candidates – seven each. Morley and Outwood has just three candidates, from the three main parties.

The biggest constituency is Leeds Central – held by Hilary Benn for Labour since 1999 – where there is a total electorate of more than 100,000. Mr Benn is also defending the biggest majority, almost 17,000 votes.

Conservative Andrew Jenkyns is defending the smallest majority, just 422 votes, in Morley and Outwood.