EU citizens living in the UK complained of having their right to vote for an MEP ‘denied'.

In previous years, UC1 forms -  a declaration that an EU citizen wants to cast their ballot in the UK - would have been sent out by councils from January.

However, the Government only confirmed that EU elections would go ahead on April 5 - just over a month before forms had to be returned.

Yesterday there were anecdotal reports of some EU citizens being turned away at polling stations but the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) has so far been unable to gauge numbers, causes or spread.

AEA chief executive, Peter Stanyon, said: ‘Electoral administrators and councils have been working flat out over the last two months to make sure that everyone who is eligible to can vote in an election that they had been advised would not be taking place.'

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said it understood the ‘frustration' of citizens of EU member states who were unable to vote in the UK.

He said: ‘The very short notice from the Government of the UK's participation in these elections impacted on the time available for awareness of this process among citizens and for citizens to complete the process.'