Two in five voters ignored the election to make 2001 the most apathetic poll since 1918. Turnouts slumped to an average of 59.2 per cent, some 12 per cent down on the 1997 election, after 623 of the 659 seats had been declared.
The figures also showed that only one in four of those who have the right to vote actually supported Labour. But the 1918 poll was a peculiar election, with 100 MPs standing unopposed, which means that 2001 was effectively the worst turnout since 1885 - the first time most adult males had the vote.