Bexley Council has raked in nearly £10k in the last four years flogging residents’ data to third parties.

A freedom of information request has revealed the council makes an average of £2k a year selling electoral information of those living in the borough.

The council was asked by the local democracy reporting service how much it has made “selling electoral roll data to individuals and organisations.”

Electoral roll data includes names and addresses of people signed up to vote in elections.

Last year alone, the council made £3,411 profit from selling data, more than 2017’s total of £2,184.

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In 2016 and 2015, the council made £1,420 and £2,022 respectively.

Councils have been bashed by critics, including campaign group Big Brother Watch, for such transactions – claiming it undermines the trust voters have in local government.

In response to the figures, a spokesman for the council said: “There are two registers, the electoral register and the open register.

“The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections. We use the information to check that people are eligible to vote.

“The open register is an extract of the electoral register but is not used for elections. It can be bought by any person, company or organisation.”

The spokesman added: “Information on the register is used for other searches, including detecting fraud, checking credit applications and calling people for jury service.

“While we understand that there are issues such as direct marketing, there are protections for residents covering how the information is used.”

An elector’s name and address will be included in the open register unless they opt out.