Speculation is mounting in Westminster that ministers are drawing up radical reforms that will dramatically overhaul the way elections are held – and potentially ‘lock in’ a Labour Party majority.
The Government is already planning to extend the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, with legislation expected later this year.
Now the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a Left-wing think-tank closely aligned with Labour, has called for the ‘removal or relaxation’ of rules that force people to show photographic identification before voting.
Introduced in 2022, the rules were designed to protect postal and proxy voting from fraud and crack down on vote intimidation.
The IPPR, however, warns turn-out is falling among non-graduates and renters and says lessening the photo ID requirements, or axing them, would ‘reduce inequality at UK general elections’.
Its report adds: ‘Letting current trends
in political inequality play out would be an obvious act of self-harm
for this Government.’...<<<Read More>>>...
