Blackford slams PM as ‘tin-pot dictator’ in row over voter ID Bill

SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford, right, has urged Boris Johnson to withdraw his ‘Trumpian’ voter ID Bill, describing it as an unnecessary policy which would prevent and deter millions of people from voting.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber challenged the Prime Minister to withdraw the ‘vote-rigging proposals’ which he said would disenfranchise many voters from marginalised communities.

‘Boris Johnson must withdraw his Trumpian voter ID bill immediately. It is a completely unnecessary move,’ said Mr Blackford.

‘This isn’t about fixing voter fraud. That issue barely exists. It’s about fixing the system to favour the Tories and their friends. The Tory government is robbing people of their democratic right to vote by introducing voter suppression measures, which would act as a barrier that could prevent and deter millions of people from voting.

‘The Electoral Reform Society says it could lead to voter disenfranchisement on an industrial scale and evidence suggests it will hit working class communities, black, Asian and ethnic communities and other already marginalised groups in society.’

An estimated 3,500,000 people in the UK do not have a form of photographic ID while 11,000,000 people do not have a passport or driver’s licence.

Mr Blackford said it was not just the SNP that has fears about this. ‘Members of the Prime Minister’s own party have called his plans ‘an illogical and illiberal solution to a non-existent problem,’ he added. ‘The Prime Minister must withdraw these vote-rigging proposals immediately instead of continuing down this path like some kind of tin-pot dictator.’