Voter ID won't be scrapped, minister says

When the Conservatives brought in the controversial change to the electoral system which forced people to bring photo ID to polling stations in order to vote, Labour opposed the measure.

Sir Keir Starmer said it could risk "locking people out of democracy". Today, the government has decided to continue with the policy, instead announcing it is expanding the forms of ID which will be accepted.

Politics latest: Plan to lower voting age divides opinion Plans are under way for UK-issued bank cards to be included as acceptable forms of ID. This will be legislated for in a new Elections Bill.

The democracy minister said the voter ID policy was still in place to prevent "issues from previous elections" including fraud and other forms of election interference. Rushanara Ali said she was aware that legitimate voters, including disabled voters, were excluded from voting at the last election.

She added that her plans for expanding which forms of ID will be accepted would be "striking the right balance" of fairness. In August last year, the Electoral Commission said some 3% of people do not have photo ID eligible for voting.

That includes 14% of people in council housing, 10% of unemployed people and 7% of disabled people. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has raised questions in previous elections over whether the voter ID policy is discriminatory towards ethnic minority voters and disabled voters.

"We are concerned about the impact voter ID had on people who share certain protected characteristics," a spokesperson said. "This could affect the right to free and democratic elections, protected under the Human Rights Act." Read more:Sixteen and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in next general electionWho are the suspended Labour MPs? During the election campaign, both Angela Rayner and the prime minister said the disproportionality of the policy was concerning.

Sir Keir told me he would "look into it". The disability charity Mencap welcomed the prospect of a review at the time, but today it seems the government have shelved these plans.

The department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has been approached for comment..