I have received addressed mail from political groups reminding me to use my postal vote to further their cause. My details are not on the open version of the electoral roll. How do they get my name and address and how do they know that I use a postal vote?

I want my local council not to give out my details to local political parties but been told they have a right to this information. What can I do to stop political canvassing?

I have received several election leaflets and letters directly addressed to me and recently I had some bloke from the Labour party phoning me (and there wasn't even an election going on either!). I checked electoral law and contacted the electoral commission but the law is really woolly. It says that election candidates can have a copy of the electoral register and use it for electoral purposes. But it doesn't explicitly state what those purposes are. I would argue that using my personal details to send me letters and then using my phone number to phone me especially when its not actually during an election is in clear breach of the law.