Uber joins campaign urging young people to vote in UK election
Ride-hailing company Uber has partnered with grassroots organisation Bite the Ballot for a campaign encouraging young people to register to vote in the forthcoming UK General Election. Users of Uber's app are now shown an official page for voter registration while they wait for their cars to arrive, along with an accompanying message urging them "not to be a passenger in this election." The number of 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral roll has fallen by 27% in three years, according to the Electoral Reform Society. 

U ber customers will be urged to register to vote as part of a drive to reverse a trend of young people falling the electoral roll.

As of Friday, users of the taxi-hailing app are to be shown an official page for voter registration during the wait for their cab.

The message on their screens will tell them "not to be a passenger in this election" and is part of an initiative by Bite the Ballot, an organisation aimed at getting young people interested in politics.

It comes after warnings from the Electoral Reform Society that there is a "ticking time-bomb" of voter registration among young people.

Analysis it carried out showed that the number of 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral roll has plunged by 27 per cent in three years.

General Election 2017 Campaign - In pictures 1 / 57 General Election 2017 Campaign - In pictures Jeremy Corbyn joins leaders for the BBC's Election Debate Stefan Rousseau/PA Prime Minister Theresa May samples cheese at the Royal Bath and West Show in Shepton Mallet Leon Neal/Pool/Reuters First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during the launch of the SNP General Election manifesto at Perth Concert Hall Jane Barlow/PA Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at the launch in central London of a Liberal Democrats campaign poster attacking the Conservatives' school meals policy Victoria Jones/PA Jeremy Corbyn appears on The One Show BBC Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron and the party's local candidate Sir Simon Hughes are given a baking lesson at Comptoir Gourmand, an artisan bakery in Bermondsey, London Gareth Fuller/PA Prime Minister Theresa May answers questions from the studio audience during a joint Channel 4 and Sky News general election programme recorded at Sky studios Stefan Rousseau/PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is interviewed by Jeremy Paxman during a joint Channel 4 and Sky News general election programme 'May v Corbyn Live: The Battle for Number 10' at Sky studios Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty Images Home Secretary Amber Rudd (left) and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. 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Oxford University political sociology professor Stephen Fisher told The Times: "This data suggests primarily that many of last year’s 17-year-olds, now this year’s 18-year-olds, are in danger of not being registered. This does sound quite worrying from a political participation perspective."

General Election polls and projections: May 15

The fall has been blamed on a change to voter registration in 2014, which meant young people approaching voting age could no longer be registered by their parents or guardians and also that universities no longer automatically register their students. It was designed by the Coalition government to increase the accuracy of electoral data.