THE electoral register is key to our democracy. Yet, the Lib Dem/ Conservative Government’s changes to how you register to vote has scratched a third of Oxford’s electors from the register.

Unsurprisingly for a city where students make up more of the population than they do anywhere else in England and Wales, Oxford is the worst-hit university city.

Registration in some wards with student populations like my own has fallen by 60 per cent.

We need the register to be complete, so the City Council is focusing its resources on the 43,000 electors dropping off. But, we face an uphill battle to register voters lost in the switch-over.

Today’s letters

It’s disturbing that the new system makes it harder to vote, particularly for people such as young renters and students likely to be registered in the first place.

In Sheffield – where the student vote could topple Nick Clegg – those losing the right to have their say have greatest anger at the reversal of policy to abolish tuition fees and trebling of them to £9,000 a year.

We’re seeing exciting steps forward in our democracy. After persuading the coalition to let sixteen and seventeen-year olds vote in the Scotland referendum, Labour Leader Ed Miliband promised to give under-18s the right to vote if elected. This voting system is contrary to the spirit of his promise.

To have a say over the decisions affecting your future, your voice has to be heard. If you aren’t registered, please go online and register now.

Cllr Tom Hayes (Labour)
Oxford City Councillor for St Clement’s


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