Russell Brand embraces voting to back Miliband

Russell Brand, the comedian-cum-polemicist, has abandoned his anti-voting stance with an endorsement for Labour on the eve of the general election.

The outspoken leftwinger said that leader Ed Miliband had convinced him that "this bloke will listen to us" during an interview at his East End bachelor flat last week.

It was important to vote for Labour to remove the Conservatives from the government, he said on Monday.

David Cameron last week mocked the interview, saying that he was too busy to talk to the comedian. In a video released by his YouTube channel "The Trews" Mr Brand said that people had "no choice" but to vote against the Tories.

"David Cameron might think I'm a joke but I don't think there's anything funny about what the Conservative party have been doing to this country and we have to stop them," he said.

Mr Brand said Mr Miliband understood that people were angry and wanted to see "community-led activism" on housing, poverty, inequality and work.

He said he did not support all of Labour's policy positions, citing immigration or the Trident nuclear deterrent. "But what's important is this bloke will be in parliament and I think this bloke will listen to us. So on 7 May vote Labour, on 8 May - more democracy, more democracy, more power to more communities."

His recommendation excluded Scotland and Brighton Pavilion, where Caroline Lucas is trying to hold on to the Green Party's only seat. "If you're Scottish, you don't need an English person telling you what to do," he said. "You know what you're going to be doing. If you're in Brighton I think it'd be a travesty if we lost the voice of Caroline Lucas in Westminster."

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It follows backing for Labour from other celebrities such as Delia Smith, Steve Coogan, Jo Brand, Stephen Hawking, David Tennant and Martin Freeman.

Mr Brand, who is not registered to vote this week, admitted that he had previously been "Mr Don't Vote". He said in an interview on BBC Newsnight that it was not worth going into a ballot box. "What I mean is politics isn't something we can just be involved in once every five years, not just elections," he said. "Democracy is something you should be constantly involved in."

Turnout among younger voters had long been running below the national average amid growing signs people between 18 and 24 were becoming increasingly disengaged by the political process.

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