Johnson accused of ‘voter suppression’ over plans for photographic voting ID

BORIS JOHNSON has been accused of attempting “voter suppression” by a former Labour Party leader after announcing plans to make photographic ID compulsory when voting.

The Queen’s Speech included plans to tighten rules around voting, with voters needing to show an “approved form of photographic ID” when turning up to polling stations.

But former Labour leader Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North, said the Prime Minister had not offered “any evidence” that there was an issue with the integrity of voting in the UK.

A passport or a driver’s licence featuring a photograph will need to be produced in order to have a say at the next election under the plans. Ministers said those who do not hold such identification documents will be able to apply for free for a local electoral identity document to avoid losing their vote.

The fine print in the draft Bill also places extra burdens on postal voters, with fresh requirements to reapply every three years to vote by post.

Under current rules, those on the electoral register simply turn up at their local polling station to have their say.

Mr Miliband tweeted: “Photo ID to vote without any evidence of a problem such an obvious US voter suppression move.

“Plus, in small print of briefing document making people reapply for postal votes every three years... more bureaucracy to disenfranchise more people, particularly older voters.”

The Electoral Commission said it had found the UK’s voting system was “vulnerable to fraud” in recent studies.

In voter ID pilot schemes run by the commission in 2018 and 2019, less than one per cent of eligible voters turned up without their IDs and failed to return. One of the trials was in Craven in North Yorkshire, where initial figures showed that a total of 48 voters out of 7,001 were turned away and did not return.