As we went to the polls in May to elect Councillors to represent us, five parts of England were trialling a system where voters are required to present ID before being able to vote.
Voter ID has been compulsory in other countries and even parts of the United Kingdom, like Northern Ireland, for a long time. Indeed, in Northern Ireland there is a tried and tested system of town halls issuing free ID in advance of any election, to people who don’t have a passport, driving licence or other form already. However, in England, you don’t need to prove your identity before voting or even bring a polling card. You just give a name and address. As long as that name is on the electoral register, you are handed a ballot paper to vote.
Although convictions for abuse of our electoral system are rare, clearly the current system is vulnerable to exploitation. Last month, in Pendle, political parties reported instances of people being suspected of trying to vote by impersonating someone else. It is impossible to know how many get away with it every year.
I wanted Pendle to be one of the first places to trial voter ID because I want us to have full confidence in our democracy and to know the people elected to serve us truly deserve to be there. Sadly, the former leadership of Pendle Council decided against this but the new leadership do want to participate, which I welcome.
In the five places that trialled voter ID, the experiment appears to have worked well. Out of 234,000 people eligible to vote, only 340 were unable to cast their ballot after failing to provide ID. Turnout remained at normal levels, even rising in some places. Fears that thousands of people would be unfairly disenfranchised have proved entirely untrue.
Voters in these areas can have extra confidence their local democracy is safe from electoral fraud. I will continue to call for more protections here in Pendle and across our country and hope we see the full roll out of ID at polling stations for next year’s council elections.
This week, I also met with the Secretary of State for Transport to make clear how unacceptable local rail commuters were finding the delays and cancellations following recent timetable changes. The reasons behind the delays and cancellations are complex but I was assured he and his Department are doing everything possible to sort this situation out ASAP.