Application for right ID to vote from 28,000 out of 1.8m

ONLY 28,000 of the nearly 1.8 million people in England without the right ID to vote under new anti-fraud laws have applied for a scheme to enable them to take part in elections.

A new legal requirement to produce photo ID at the polls is set to come into force this spring in an attempt to stop voters impersonating others.

The reforms draw on the recommendations of a 2016 report by Lord Pickles, the former Tory Cabinet minister, which warned there was a risk of “significant abuse” of the electoral system if people could vote under false pretences with little risk of detection.

Analysis by The Daily Telegraph suggests only 3per cent of the estimated 1.79million adults in England who do not hold the right ID to cast their vote in May are set to register for a new identification card by the deadline of April 25.

The Government has funnelled up to £5.6million of taxpayer money into a public information campaign. The new voter ID rules will come into effect on May 4 when seats at 230 of England’s more than 330 councils go up for grabs.