Labour caught red-handed over voter registration claims

12.43.51pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 23rd Feb 2006

Lambeth Labour's attempts to play the race card backfired when their shameful record on electoral registration in Lambeth was exposed after they were caught out misleading voters.

Lambeth Lib Dem leader Cllr Peter Truesdale said: "When they ran the council until May 2002, Lambeth Labour cut the number of door-to-door registration canvasses from four to one, and when setting the 2002/03 budget they cut funding for door-to-door voter registration by £24,000".

Those funding cuts meant that Labour had failed to encourage enough people to register to vote, including people from black and ethnic minority groups.

Labour claimed the Lib Dems had refused to carry out extra steps to encourage people to register, including people from black and ethnic minority groups. But the truth 35,932 new names were added to the voting register in December 2005.

The Lib Dem-led council made sure a canvass was undertaken between October and mid-November 2005, with a wide range of extra initiatives to encourage voter registration:

Registration forms were sent to all 130,000 Lambeth households in August 2005 and reminder forms in mid-September were not sent to properties that had not returned a form.

Door-to-door canvassing of properties which had not responded took place from the 10th October to mid-November.

But the Lib Dem led administration knew that more had to be done to encourage different groups to register. Copying successful methods from elsewhere in London, at the end of January letters and voter registration forms were circulated via over 270 black and ethnic minority faith groups and places of worship.

Other activities included:

distributing a bookmark with deadline details via Lambeth libraries,

taking part in the London-wide Voter Registration Awareness Campaign, and

advertising in the February edition of 'Lambeth Life', which is delivered to tens of thousands of Lambeth residents.

And Lambeth Liberal Democrats have also been working hard, knocking on doors, encouraging people to register to vote, and sending letters in minority languages to help people from minority communities.

Cllr Peter Truesdale added: "To register to vote in Lambeth visit www.lambeth.gov.uk, contact your local Lib Dem Councillor or call the Electoral Services Helpline on 020 7926 2144."