Spike in number of people applying to vote as General Election approaches

More than two million people have applied to register to vote since Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would be calling a snap election, according to official figures.

According to data from the Electoral Commission, 2,014,787 applications have been made digitally, with 83,322 made using a written form, since April 18.

More than 150,000 people applied to register on the day the snap election was called – April 18.

That marked the highest number of registrations in a 24-hour period since a spike of interest on June 7 last year ahead of the EU referendum when 525,000 people made applications, forcing the website to crash as the deadline to register loomed.

And interest in the forthcoming General Election on June 8 hasn’t waned, with five days in the last week seeing more than 100,000 people apply for registration.

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The last date to register to vote in the General Election is Monday May 22.

The Electoral Commission said: “With the registration deadline in sight, the commission is advising everyone who has not yet registered to do so as soon as possible to ensure that they can have their say on 8 June.”