The number of people who could lose their right to vote in this area after Brexit will really shock you

The voters come from EU countries which have not struck a deal with the Uk government over reciprocal voting rights following Brexit.

The3Million, an organisation which campaigns for EU citizens’ rights in the UK, says it means some people could “lose the right to any form of democratic representation”.

Currently, EU citizens based in England are entitled to vote in European Parliament and local government elections.

But reciprocal voting rights for EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens living in the EU, have not been agreed with most member states after Brexit – to date, such agreements have been reached with only Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal.

It means that 18,284 voters in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole – 6.1 per cent of the electorate – could lose their right to vote following the UK’s departure from the EU.

The figures exclude those with dual nationality in the UK, Irish citizens, who can vote in all UK elections, and people from Malta and Cyprus, who will maintain their right to vote as they are Commonwealth countries.

Across the South West, 127,000 EU citizens – three per cent of the electorate – could see their right to vote affected by Brexit.

Nationally, 4.7 per cent of England’s electorate, 1.9 million people, are from EU countries without an automatic right to vote.

Maike Bohn, spokeswoman for The3million, said maintaining voting rights is one of the campaign group’s key objectives.

“Some people, because of the way electoral law works in their home countries, will have no right to vote there either," she said. "Many will lose the right to vote in European elections.

“There are some people who will lose the right to any form of democratic representation – and that is unacceptable in the 21st century.

“The [Brexit] referendum has already shown what happens when you don’t have a voice.”

Due to boundary changes, there are no local authority voting figures for the 2016 Brexit referendum in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole – which EU citizens were not allowed to vote in.

A new report from the Electoral Commission shows that some EU citizens could already have had their votes hampered, after some British expats and citizens of other EU member states living in the UK faced “difficulties” when trying to vote in the European parliamentary elections on May 23.

The commission said the problems were caused by the Government's delay in implementing electoral changes it had first recommended in 2014.

In that election, the largest share of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s vote, 42 per cent, went to the Brexit Party. The South West electoral region returned three Brexit Party MEPs, two Liberal Democrat and one Green to the European Parliament.

A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: "We are pursuing bilateral arrangements with all member states to protect the right to vote and stand in local elections."