Apology after 1,000 people told they cannot vote

Maria Petrakis-Birkby was wrongly told she was not allowed to vote in the upcoming general election

A council has apologised after about 1,000 people wrongly received letters saying they were "not eligible" to vote in the 4 July general election.

West Suffolk Council an "automated process error" meant people were given the wrong information.

Maria Petrakis-Birkby, who lives in the Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket constituency, was among those who received a letter.

She said: “People not turning up could have an impact on this seat and that is very worrying."

'Face value'

After contacting the council to complain, she received an email confirming she was allowed to vote.

Ms Petrakis-Birkby, of College Street, Bury St Edmunds, said: “What concerns me is there are a lot of people like me who might ignore an email telling them the letter was incorrect.

“There are people who will take the letter at face value and say ‘I didn’t make the deadline’, so I have no doubt there will be people who don’t vote because of it."

Voters will head to the ballot boxes next Thursday

A spokesman for West Suffolk Council said: "We would like to apologise to the residents who have received a letter saying they were not eligible to vote.

"This was an error due to an automated process dealing with an extremely high volume of applications to register to vote, very close to the deadline.

"This issue is being looked at to prevent it from happening again. Out of more than 127,000 electors, approximately 1,000 applicants were affected."

A full list of candidates for this seat can be viewed here.