Background
The government trialled this policy ID during the 2018 and 2019 English local elections in a handful of local authorities, with each area testing different restrictions. Even with public information campaigns, over 1,000 voters were refused a ballot for not having the right paperwork. The government now want to roll out this expensive scheme to everyone for the 2023 local elections.
There is a reason groups as wide ranging as the Salvation Army to Stonewall, Age UK and racial equality organisations oppose these plans: they will impact some people more than others and pull up the drawbridge to people across the country.
The Cabinet Office impact assessment estimates the policy will cost £180m over ten years. Each decade the voter ID scheme will cost £55m on more detailed polling cards, £20m on 19,851 more poll clerks, £9m for the Electoral Commission, £20m on communications, £7m on training and £2m on equipment.
In 2022 the House of Lords voted to change the legislation to expand the list of acceptable forms of ID to include many widely available free cards and documentation. The government rejected this and passed the law with their original restrictive list.