Sol Campbell joins campaign aimed at encouraging minorities to register to vote...

Former Arsenal and England defender Sol Campbell is part of a new campaign to encourage minorities to register to vote in next month's general election.

Campbell has joined forces with Homeland actor David Harewood, musician Tinie Tempah and Paralympic medallist//television presenter Ade Adepitan.

The campaign, run by Operation Black Vote, features the stars in striking photographs ahead of the voting registration deadline on April 20.

Sol Campbell is part of a new campaign to encourage minorities to register to vote for the General Election

Ex-England star Campbell retired from football in 2012 and is considering a career in politics

Campbell, 40, last month ruled out standing for the Conservatives in Kensington after Sir Malcolm Rifkind announced he would be standing down.

At the time he said his 'ambitions lie elsewhere in the political arena' which led to speculation he could run for London Mayor.

Campbell posed for a photograph with his face coloured white alongside the caption, 'If you don't register to vote, you're taking the colour out of Britain.'

And on launching the campaign, Harewood said: 'What it brilliantly illustrates is that if you don't register to vote, you are quite literally taking all the vibrancy we have in our community off the table

'If you don't register to vote, politicians don't really care about you, politicians aren't really caring about what you have to say, what you have to do, anything.

Campbell won 73 caps for his country, scoring one goal over the space of nine years

'The only way they talk to you is if you register to vote. That is when you become an important part of the electorate.'

Operation Black Vote also launched a 2015 general election manifesto with the aim of 'reclaiming democracy, empowering citizens and fighting race equalities'.

It says that in the past black and minority ethnic (BME) groups presented a broad range of 'key policy demands' to all parties, but adds: 'Our experience shows that whilst all parties express interest in our proposals during elections, this interest soon evaporates once in power.'

Instead OBV has created a list of manifesto points of its own, including automatic voter registration linked to the National Insurance system, the introduction of e-voting and proportional representation, voting from the age of 16, state funding of parties and a 'minister for race equality' in the Cabinet.