At the Mediterrane film festival in Malta, the film-maker spoke out against UK citizens ‘seeing justification in not voting’ in the general election

Mike Leigh has criticised UK voters considering abstention at this year’s general election, saying the subjects of his 2018 historical drama Peterloo would be appalled by such disengagement.

Speaking at the Mediterrane film festival in Malta, Leigh said the protesters who gathered in St Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand the reform of parliamentary representation in 1819 would be “not only horrified but mystified” about “people procrastinating about whether to vote and seeing justification in not voting, which is what’s happening right now”.

In Hull East, less than half of the electorate went to the ballot box in 2019 – and, here and elsewhere, the party fears being caught out by political apathy

Even during a general election campaign with projections of historic – even unprecedented – results, people cannot always be relied upon to give their full attention.

“We met a guy who said he was going to vote Labour but wouldn’t now because he had just heard that we were taxing condoms,” said Labour’s Karl Turner, who was first voted in as the MP for Hull East in 2010 and is standing for re-election this time.

Readers respond to an article by Shaniya Odulawa on how young people have been put off politics and from voting in the general election

Good on Shaniya Odulawa for expressing the views of many young people about politics (I never thought I’d abstain from voting, but many young people will – and can you blame us?, 21 June). I share her feelings about Brexit. But what options do we have? Young people have the option to oust the present government – surely that alone is enough to vote, albeit grudgingly, for a Labour government? It’s not all about the leader, it’s about what Labour will do on the ground if elected. There will be a new feeling of optimism and actual change, which is impossible to imagine, given how we have lived for the last 14 years.

I must vote. I am 68 years old. The Equality and Franchise Act 1928 gave women over 21 the right to vote for the first time. This meant 15 million women could vote. My mother was born two years after that act and it was drilled into me by her that women fought for us to have that right to vote, so I must exercise it.