More than 700,000 young people have registered to vote since the general election was called

More than 714,000 young people have registered to vote since Theresa May called for a snap election, following a series of social media campaigns urging Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat users to sign up.

Under 25s have sent off nearly 16,000 more applications than any other age group since the Prime Minister made the shock announcement on 18 April.

They made up more than a third of the 150,000 potential voters who registered that day - a spike of around 140,000 in 24 hours.

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) previously warned young people in the UK face a “voter registration time bomb”, with the number of school leavers registered to vote dropping by more than a quarter over the past three years.

But figures have surged over recent weeks as social media appeals on Facebook and Snapchat urged youngsters to apply.

Jeremy Corbyn has gained support through the #grime4corbyn hashtag, launched to reflect his popularity with grime artists such as Stormzy and JME.

The Labour leader also reached out to rock and roll fans, making a brief appearance before The Libertines, the British band fronted by Pete Doherty, played at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park.

The party is solidly ahead of the Conservatives with voters under 40 years old, despite being more than 20 points behind in the polls overall, according to a YouGov poll of nearly 13,000 voters between 2-20 April.

But Labour is well behind in the polls overall – by about 20 points – because of a significantly lower expected turnout among young voters and a huge generational divide.

Those under 40 report being significantly less likely to vote than those over 40.

Slightly more than 40 per cent of the younger cohort say they are “certain to vote” compared with 64 per cent of the older cohort.

The divide in the poll mirrors the split at the European Union referendum, where older voters pulled Britain out of the European Union against the overwhelming wishes of younger voters.

In total, The Register to Vote Service has recorded 714,595 under 25s applying to register between 18 April and 20 May.

The second largest group to register during that period was 25-34-year-olds, who made 698,781 applications.

Numbers for older age groups come in at less than half the latter figure, with 317,908 applications from 35-44-year-olds, and just 27,172 from the over 75s.

But older voters are likely to have registered before the election was announced, and are much more likely to vote.

Just 43 per cent of 18-24-year-olds cast their ballot in the 2015 general election, compared with 78% of people aged 65 or over, according to polling by Ipsos Mori.

Emma Hartley, head of campaigns at the Electoral Commission, told the BBC: "It's really encouraging that so many young people have registered to vote recently, as our research shows that along with students and recent home movers, they are particularly less likely to be registered."

The deadline for registration is 23.59 GMT on Monday 22 May.