Campaigners warn the law is having a ‘damaging and disproportionate impact on our democracy’
Ministers have vowed to review and improve the voter ID law amid mounting criticism and new evidence that the legislation may be suppressing voter turnout in the UK. The pledge follows a detailed study from King’s College London, which found the controversial requirement could “significantly reduce” participation at the ballot box.
Introduced by the previous Conservative government and implemented nationwide for English elections from 2023, the law mandates that all voters present valid photo identification in order to cast their vote. However, analysis by Dr Tom Barton, an academic at King’s College London, suggests the requirement discouraged thousands of eligible citizens from participating, even during its initial pilot phase in 2018.
Dr Barton’s research revealed that in Bromley, one of the first trial areas, the ID requirement led to an estimated 4.4% drop in turnout. Out of 240,249 registered voters, over 10,000 who would likely have voted, stayed away due to the new requirement.
Campaigners and democracy watchdogs have seized on the findings as further evidence of the law’s adverse effects. Darren Hughes, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: “We already know that voter ID has seen people turned away over 40,000 times from polling stations due to a lack of acceptable ID and not return at the elections it has been used.” He added, “These findings further confirm that voter ID is having a damaging and disproportionate impact on our democracy.”
Although Labour ministers initially hinted at the possibility of scrapping the measure altogether after their general election victory, Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali recently confirmed that such an option is no longer under consideration. Instead, the Government has committed to reforming the system, addressing what it calls “inconsistencies in voter ID rules that prevent legitimate voters from voting.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We are committed to strengthening the security of our democracy and making sure every legitimate voter can exercise their democratic right to vote.” The Government is currently looking at ways to expand the list of accepted ID documents, potentially including Veteran Cards and other official forms.
Critics, however, argue that the problems with voter ID run deeper. Dr Barton noted that the initial pilot in Bromley allowed for a wider range of identification than what is currently accepted under the law, including non-photo forms such as bank statements and credit cards. Despite that flexibility, the trial still demonstrated a significant drop in turnout, particularly among older voters.
Notably, former Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted last year that the policy may have backfired on the Conservatives, stating at a National Conservatism conference: “We found that the people that didn’t have ID were elderly — oh, and they by and large voted Conservative.”
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Barton added that while some voters may adapt to the ID requirement over time, others — such as young people voting for the first time or elderly citizens who no longer hold a passport or driving licence — could still face barriers. He pointed out that other countries with voter ID laws, such as Canada, take a more inclusive approach, offering multiple forms of ID and allowing voters without documents to be vouched for by others.
The UK, by contrast, does not provide a universal ID card to citizens when they turn 18, a practice common in many European democracies. As such, access to valid ID is inconsistent and may be more difficult for marginalised groups, campaigners warn.
As pressure mounts, the Government faces growing calls to either significantly reform or abandon the policy altogether. For now, ministers insist the law is here to stay — but changes to improve accessibility may soon be on the horizon.
