Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people who do not have access to any form of photo ID; and how many of those people are (a) aged between 18 and 25, (b) aged over 65 and (c) BAME voters.

The Electoral Commission’s independent statutory evaluation of the 2019 voter ID pilots, found that in elections where photo ID was required, 99.6% of electors coming to polling stations were able to show the right photographic ID and cast their vote.

Locally issued ID was made available by local authorities, free of charge, whenever an elector was unable to produce the required ID. This will also be the case when voter ID is rolled out nationally. In the 2019 photographic ID pilots, of the 34,800 people that voted, only 100 people needed to rely on a Local Elector ID issued by their local authority - 63 voters in Pendle and 27 voters in Woking.

Cabinet Office does not collect or hold data on the total number of people who do not have access to any form of photographic ID. However, based on the Cabinet Office evaluation of the pilots, there is no indication that any consistent demographic was adversely affected by the voter ID models.

Showing ID is something people of all backgrounds already do every day, for example to take out a library book, claim benefits or pick up a parcel from the post office. Proving who you are before you make a decision of huge importance at the ballot box should be no different. As was the case during the pilots, any voter who does not have an approved form of ID will be able to apply, free of charge, for a local electoral ID from their local authority.