Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis has warned that without delaying the rule change, hundreds of thousands of people could be prevented from exercising their democratic right to vote.
One of the main issues is the uptake of free photo ID among those who do not already have one. The government’s own data shows that just over 48,000 people have registered online in the past two months, compared to estimates of between 925,000 and 3.5 million people without existing ID. This means that many people who are eligible to vote may not be able to present the necessary identification at polling stations, potentially leading to their disenfranchisement.
