THE number of people registering to vote surged to almost half a million on Monday as people rushed to apply before the midnight deadline.

Some 469,047 applications were made online across the UK and nearly 16,000 on paper, Cabinet Office figures show. Large numbers also registered in days up to the deadline: a total (online and on paper) of 118,505 on Thursday, 104,403 on Friday, 66,986 on Saturday and 124,284 on Sunday.

Alex Robertson, of the Electoral Commission, said it was “absolutely fantastic that more than two million people had applied to register to vote over the last few weeks.”