TOWN halls will face a legal duty to ensure people are registered to vote to tackle the growing problem of "democracy deserts", it was revealed yesterday.

Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, told Labour's conference that alarming falls in the numbers entitled to vote threatened to "injure the poor and the socially excluded".

A Bill would be brought forward within weeks to increase registration by putting local authorities under a statutory duty to register as many people as possible.

In the May General Election, some of the lowest turn-outs were in the North-East, including the seats of Middlesbrough, with 49 per cent, Hartlepool (51.5 per cent) and Easington (52 per cent).

But the real proportion of people voting in those constituencies was even lower because thousands are not on the register and are not counted as part of the electorate.

"These are gaps, real gaps," Lord Falconer told delegates yesterday. "We have to guard against a democratic divide in our country, where the least advantaged are increasingly excluded."

Lord Falconer contrasted the way Iraqis risked their lives to get to the polling station in January's election with the way turnout in Britain was "dropping alarmingly".

He said: "We will place, for the first time, a detailed duty on our electoral returning officers to ensure that the electoral register is as full as possible."

Lord Falconer also pledged to look at further measures to increase the security of postal voting after recent fraud scandals.

But he said it must not further reduce the numbers of people registered, making it likely that calls for individuals to register, rather than households, would be rejected.

* As the conference closed, Labour's leadership suffered a fourth defeat as delegates voted for fairer funding for council houses remaining under local authority control.

The motion, overwhelmingly backed on a show of hands, called for funds available for stock transfers to be equally available for direct investment.

The leadership also suffered reverses on the expanding role of the private sector in the NHS, on restoring secondary strike action and increasing pensions in line with earnings.