A BOLTON MP is urging the council to take urgent action to tackle a startling drop in the number of people registered to vote.

Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South-east, has called for more publicity to make people aware of the importance of registering for elections after figures revealed that 6,882 voters have disappeared from registered lists in his constituency - the equivalent of around 10 per cent - since 2001.

Bolton South-east has the 19th worst record for disappearing voters in the country, and the poorest in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

He claims the council should be doing more to publicise the process of registering for elections and to play a part in the democratic process.

It is already too late for voters to register for the next General Election if, as expected, Prime Minister Tony Blair makes an announcement before April 11 of a snap ballot to take place on May 5.

But Dr Iddon wants to avoid even more people dropping off the register next time around.

He said: "I am appalled to see a drop in registered voters as big as this in my constituency.

"As we approach a possible General Election I am concerned that so many of my constituents have been disenfranchised.

"With an important General Election coming up I wanted as many of my constituents to have the right to vote as possible. I am expecting to receive a lot of complaints about this when we start campaigning."

Across the country approximately three million people will not be able to take part in any forthcoming election because they are not registered.

A joint report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Constitutional Affairs Committees on Electoral Registration has made a number of recommendations to tackle the problem, including the establishment of a national electoral roll, measures to cut fraud by introducing individual rather than household registration, and possibly fining unregistered voters.

But Cllr Roger Hayes, deputy leader of Bolton Council, said the falling numbers of registered voters was part of a national trend. He said: "The only thing we can't do is make people vote."