Thousands of voters in Swindon have been wrongly told they’ve been removed from the electoral register - just weeks before the general election.

Letters have been sent by Swindon Borough Council and signed by returning officer and council chief executive officer Susie Kemp to as many as 3,000 people, those who have previously registered as wanting a postal vote, saying they were to be removed from the register at their address.

Swindon Advertiser:

But the council has said it is a mistake.

The council’s Facebook page says: “Anyone who received a letter dated 4 November entitled ‘Notice of Review of Registration Entitlement’ should ignore it.”

It adds the error was caused by the printers using the wrong, out-of-date distribution list and measures have been put in place to make sure it does not happen again.

It concludes: “We will be writing to every resident who has received a letter in error to explain what has happened and to apologise.”

South Swindon Labour candidate Sarah Church said: “On the day the general election campaign officially begins, I’ve had messages from voters telling me they’re being taken off the register.

"The council has now admitted this was a mistake but there needs to be a concerted effort to ensure everyone knows they still have the right to vote.

"It would be an outrage for this to affect the election in December in any way and we will be monitoring this very closely.”