Operation Votey McVoteface aims to help people of no fixed address take part in election

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Campaigners have launched a website seeking to help people without a fixed address, such as canal boat dwellers or sofa surfers, register to vote, after the Electoral Commission said just 2% of such people were on the electoral roll.

The campaign, called Operation Votey McVoteface, says that in many constituencies there are enough potential voters without a permanent address to sway the result.

Figures from the Canal and River Trust show that Hillingdon, the west London borough in which Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency is based, is one of the most common places in the capital to which boat dwellers without a fixed berth have close links.

While people with a permanent address can register to vote via a simple online system, those without must print out and fill in a five-page “declaration of local connection” form and sent it to their local electoral registration office.

The campaign has set up a website aimed at helping people without a permanent address through the registration process and also providing information about the electoral balance of particular seats and how tactical voting could remove Conservative MPs.

Official figures show that at least 175,000 people in the UK have no fixed address, whether because they are homeless, sofa surf, live on boats or are members of a travelling community.

Sam Lund-Harket, a member of the Votey McVoteface campaign who lives on a houseboat, said: “The system discriminates against those living in temporary accommodation or part of a travelling community. These shockingly low registration figures prove that.

“The Votey McVoteface website has put registration forms for people with no fixed address online in a fillable format for the first time, with guidance as to the information required and the process to follow.”

Other constituencies with large numbers of residents living in canal boats include those in Milton Keynes.

The group said rising housing costs in Bristol had led to the spread of people in insecure accommodation into nearby areas such as Jacob Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset seat, which has significant numbers of people living on boats or in vans.