EASTENDERS star Paul Nicholls will be among thousands of young people eligible to vote for the first time next Thursday.

Paul, from Bolton, who plays troubled teenager Joe Wicks in the BBC TV soap, recently celebrated his 18th birthday in real life.

Town hall statistics show that 1,980 teenagers have been added to the electoral register for the forthcoming general election.

All parties have been trying to woo these first time voters and a posse of pop and TV stars have been trying to persuade them to make their voice heard through the ballot box.

But, according to an astonishing poll, up to a quarter of first time Bolton voters have not even bothered filling in the necessary forms allowing them to vote.

Even more startling, half of Bolton's young people between 18-25 will probably not cast their vote at all.

Nearly 49 percent of 18-25 year-olds questioned in Bolton intended to turn their back on the politicians and ignore election day.

The pollsters, working for a newly launched cable TV channel Trouble, claim that Bolton's youth are typical of their generation .

Young people admitted they knew or cared little about the policies of the three main parties.

Those surveyed said they would fight for favourite causes such as animal rights or environmental issues by joining pressure groups rather than through the ballot box.

Lynn Meadowcroft, of Bolton's Bypass Centre, is not surprised by the findings. She said: "Many young people do not seem to have any faith or trust in politicians. Young people are very streetwise and can see through it when politicians do not give a straight answer to their questions.

"They hear the politicians going all around the houses without saying anything and they think 'I've heard all this before'. They switch off and say they will not bother voting."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.