Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department plans to use the evaluation of the voter ID pilots to inform (a) further pilots taking place in 2019 and (b) the implementation of voter ID requirements at the next general election.

Voter ID was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities. Photographic and non photographic ID and free locally issued ID were all tested. Data so far and statements by the five Returning Officers indicate the pilots were overwhelmingly positive.

The Government is making our voting system more secure to protect it from possible fraud, including by requiring electors to present a form of identification before voting. We will evaluate the pilots before announcing the next steps in delivering voter ID nationally.

The Electoral Commission has welcomed the voter ID pilots as a positive first step towards implementing its 2014 recommendation that an accessible, proportionate voter identification scheme should be introduced in Great Britain. The Commission will publish its evaluation of the pilots in July.