Turnout is UP to the highest level in 20 years as young people back Labour
VOTER turnout in the General Election has surged with young people apparently coming out in droves to support Labour.
A total of 68.7 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot yesterday - up from 66.4 per cent in 2015, and the highest level since 1997.
The rise in the number of people voting may account for the shock election result which saw Theresa May lose her majority despite expecting a landslide victory.
Across the country, it is estimated that 66.4 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 turned out to vote, compared to only 43 per cent at the last election in 2015.
The overall turnout figure is the highest since Tony Blair's first election win, following a string of contests where fewer than two thirds of people voted.
Commentators had cast doubt on whether the young would actually turn out to vote in large numbers.
In previous elections, young people have been much less likely to vote than older generations.
But that trend have changed this year, propelling Labour to a much better resulted than previously expected.
Jeremy Corbyn has aggressively courted the youth vote, giving interviews to pop-culture magazines and website such as NME, Kerrang and Unilad.
He previously surfed a wave of support from the young to become Labour leader, turning out youthful crowds to his large rallies.
Older people are overwhelmingly likely to vote Tory - but some may have been put off by the so-called "dementia tax" and plans to cut the winter fuel allowance.
Seats with high numbers of students witnessed queues at polling stations yesterday.
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In Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North seat turnout was 73.6 per cent - a sharp increase on the 67.4 per cent two years ago.
There was chaos in Newcastle-under-Lyme after election officials used an old version of the voting register.
Students from Keele University were initially turned away and told they weren’t registered.
But - on a day of confusion - they were then told to return to polling stations after officials found the new voting register.
Some of the key details from the turbulent election night:
- Hung parliament confirmed with Tories missing out on majority of 326 with polls predicting 318 seats - down from 330
- Labour forecast to take 262 - up from 232 in 2015.
- Theresa May faces mounting pressure – with the odds slashed on Boris Johnson to be the next PM
- Fears grow Brexit negotiations could be sunk if Mrs May does not secure a majority
- Lib Dem Nick Clegg loses Sheffield Hallam seat but Vince Cable regains Twickenham while leader Tim Farron clings on
- Home Secretary Amber Rudd holds on to Hastings seat by barely 300 votes meaning she stays a contender to replace the PM
- Huge losses for SNP as former chief Alex Salmond and deputy leader Angus Robertson are both beaten by the Tories.
- Labour on march in London beating Tories to Battersea constituency
- Pound slides two per cent as exit poll predicts hung parliament
- Ukip voters desert party with vote share down by ten per cent - but not all move to the Tories
- Growing fears that Mrs May will have to call a second election later this year