Lib Dems condemn “war on the younger generation”, and vow to abolish voter ID

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to “lead the charge” in abolishing the need for voter ID at elections, as they condemn what they describe as a “war on the younger generation”.

Daisy Cooper, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, claimed the Conservative Party was using “young people as a political football in a desperate attempt to shore up their vote.”

She named legislation to introduce voter ID, alongside proposals for the reintroduction of national service for 18-year-olds, and the scrapping of certain university degrees, as examples.

The requirement to bring voter ID to a polling station came into force in May 2023, aiming to fulfil a 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to “protect the integrity of our democracy”.

[The Conservatives] stated that voter ID would ‘stamp out’ the potential for voter fraud

Kemi Badenoch, then Minister at the Department for Levelling Up, stated that voter ID would ‘stamp out’ the potential for voter fraud, allowing voters to have confidence that their vote was theirs and theirs alone.

Critics have suggested that people could be disenfranchised by the scheme, with under-25s and over-75s disproportionately affected as the two groups least likely to have a passport or driver’s license.

Only small numbers of either group applied for voter authority certificates at the May 2023 local elections. A disparity between the range of alternative forms of identification available to older voters versus young people – for instance, Oyster Photocards only accepted for those aged 60 and above – led to accusations of bias against the latter group.

A report by the Electoral Commission in June 2023 revealed that 4% of people who didn’t vote in the local elections that year cited voter ID as their reason for not doing so. A higher proportion of unemployed and disabled people were affected, with 8% and 9% of these groups citing voter ID respectively.

In September, Labour’s Florence Eshalomi, the Shadow Democracy Minister, attacked the policy as having “snatched the ability of legitimate voters to have a say in their society”.

Despite this, Labour has not pledged to repeal the move should it win the election on 4 July. Its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has suggested he would review the policy once in power.

The Liberal Democrats have argued that the policy is costly and unnecessary

The Liberal Democrats have argued that the policy is costly and unnecessary, emphasising that there were only 33 allegations of voter fraud at the last general election. They say that the estimated cost of the policy – £120 million over a decade – could instead be used to pay for 180,000 NHS Talking Therapy courses.

However, the policy of voter ID is broadly popular, with two thirds of voters supporting the policy.

Notably, 14% of those polled prior to the 2024 local elections were unaware of the need for voter ID despite government efforts to raise awareness, suggesting some voters could be caught unaware this time around.