Elections Bill is just a power grab

DEAR Editor, Just as Boris Johnson’s government tried to change the rules to protect Owen Patterson, they are trying to change electoral law to protect their majority in parliament.

The Elections Bill now going through parliament reduces the power of the independent Electoral Commission; reduces the number of people likely to vote against them by introducing voter photo ID; reduces the opportunity of non-political organisations to campaign against them; and replaces the proportional systems for choosing mayors and police commissioners with the first past the post system, which they consider would benefit their candidates.

The parliamentary Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has a majority of Conservative MPs but even this committee has been scathing in its criticism of the Bill. They said that the change proposed by the government to the Electoral Commission ‘‘risks undermining public confidence’’.

They reported that when photo ID was used in polling stations in Northern Ireland it resulted in a 2.3% reduction in voter turn-out. If replicated in the rest of the UK, it would mean over a million voters would be deterred from voting. The committee stated: ‘‘We are concerned that the evidence to support the voter ID requirement simply is not good enough.’’

With regard to the changes to the electoral system for choosing mayors and police commissioners, they said that the timing of how the changes were introduced precluded debate in the Commons and was ‘‘unsatisfactory and disrespectful’’. The Committee calls for the Bill to be stopped until more thorough consultation takes place.

The Bill represents a blatant power grab. We should be ashamed that we have a government trying to railroad changes to our electoral system patently for their own benefit. It should be called out for what it is: corruption.

Mike Baldwin, by email