In the recent Queen’s Speech, the Government formally announced their plans to introduce mandatory Voter ID at the next election.

This policy requires voters to present photo ID to vote at polling stations in future elections.

Labour have called on the Conservatives to urgently rethink the policy, raising concerns that the policy will reverse decades of democratic progress and threaten to bar millions of people from exercising their democratic right to vote.

This is a regressive policy straight out of Trump’s Republican Party playbook.

Voting rights is an issue very close to my heart, having previously introduced a Bill to Parliament to introduce Automatic Voter Registration – which would mean people are automatically enrolled to vote when people are issued with a National Insurance Number or, for people already over 16, using data held by Government departments such as HMRC and the DVLA.

Since this policy was first announced in December 2016, the Government has received multiple warnings from charities, civil society figures and campaign groups that mandatory voter ID – if rolled out nationally – could pull up the drawbridge for millions of voters.

The stats speak for themselves:

Fraud: Voter ID is a disproportionate response to tackling voter personation, which is a vanishingly rare event:

 

ID Possession:

Cost:

 

Voter ID is a total waste of taxpayers’ money. The policy is set to cost millions of pounds at every election. 

Voting is safe and secure in Britain. Ministers should be promoting confidence in our elections instead of spreading baseless scare stories which threaten our democracy.

Millions of people lack photo ID in this country – in particular the elderly, low income and Black, Asian and ethnic minority voters. The Conservatives are reversing decades of democratic progress and urgently need to rethink this pointless policy.

Link to Instagram Link to Twitter Link to YouTube Link to Facebook Link to LinkedIn Link to Snapchat Close Fax Website Location Phone Email Calendar Building Search