Voter turnout in the UK is 9 percentage points higher than official estimates suggest, according to a study.

Figures recorded a dramatic rise in turnout to 68.8 per cent at the 2017 general election, driven by a surge in political participation among young people and former non-voters.

However, researchers at Oxford University and the University of Manchester have found that turnout last year was actually in the high 70s and could have been as high as 80.3 per cent.

The error is explained by issues with records held by the Electoral Commission, which manages voter registration. In the past, turnout was calculated by dividing the number of votes cast by the number of entries on the register.

However, the study’s authors found there were more