Voter ID has backfired on Tories, says Rees-Mogg
The Independent|May 16, 2023
The Conservative government's introduction of voter ID was an attempt at "gerrymandering" that backfired against the party, senior Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg has said
ADAM FORREST
Voter ID has backfired on Tories, says Rees-Mogg

The former cabinet minister said the policy - which saw voters required to have photo ID when voting at England's local elections – had made it harder for elderly Tories to vote and “upset a system that worked perfectly well”.

Speaking at the National Conservatism conference yesterday, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them – as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections.”

“We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well,” he added.

His comments came after it emerged that Labour is considering plans to allow EU citizens to vote in general elections – but appeared to claim that the voter ID policy was intended to give the Tories an electoral advantage.

This has been a consistent criticism of the policy from Labour and other groups, including trade unions and civil rights groups.

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