Cock-up or conspiracy, Leave won’t like the vote registration extension

The government’s announcement of a 48-hour extension to the voter registration deadline has surprised those who were sitting in the Commons only a few hours ago, who heard Matt Hancock agree with Bernard Jenkin that an extension any longer than a ‘short period’ would make this country look like a joke.

The length of time that has been announced is to allow voters to get the message that registration is still open, and then for them to find time to complete the process. But as James tweeted a few minutes ago, there are already conspiracy theories flying about that this has all been orchestrated to benefit the Remain side. Senior figures on the Leave side suspect that someone deliberately crashed the electoral registration site, because the traffic levels at 10.15pm were implausibly high.

Of course, given the government’s record on all things software-related, it is far more likely that this is a cock-up rather than a conspiracy, but a sense of betrayal will be very helpful to Leave.