Local elections 2023: ‘It’s just disenfranchisement on a grand scale’ – young people’s fears over new voter ID rules
A fundamental change to the voting system in England is coming.
Brought in with little fanfare but potentially huge consequences, a new requirement for voters to show photo ID for the first time could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people.
The rule change was a Conservative manifesto pledge, and parliament approved the change.
But as the first test of the new system approaches – May’s local elections – the dissenting voices are growing louder.
Across the country, up to 3.5 million eligible voters are without a valid ID. Although the government is offering free ID that can be accessed online, many are still unaware of the scheme.
At higher risk of being turned away at the ballot box are the elderly, those on low incomes, and people in rented accommodation and claiming unemployment or disability benefits.
And there are particular hotspots, like Hull in East Yorkshire.
At the Warren community centre, which provides a hub in the heart of the city for vulnerable young people, some of the regular attendees expressed their frustration and surprise at the policy.
Kytt, 25, described the new rules as “just another obstacle to people from underprivileged backgrounds or marginalised communities to vote”.
While Zalea, 22, said: “Young people themselves are struggling with job applications, so voting and getting a free ID is our last priority.
“I’ve never voted and trying to implement an ID process… it’s just making it a barrier, and we have enough barriers already.”
Political correspondent Liz Bates speaks to young people in Hull about new voter ID rules
Others had never heard of the free ID scheme, and those who had thought it could be more difficult to use for some than the government was suggesting.
Laura, 25, said: “Some people might have disabilities, they might need help… like I did.”
Her grandmother, she explained, had to help her with voter registration: “I didn’t know big words or how to fill one in. Ever since that, I’ve not voted.”
Also raised was a general lack of access to the internet. “We know Hull is a massive area of data poverty. People don’t have internet or stable enough connection,” Kytt added.
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The Warren’s CEO, JJ Tatten, had wider concerns about the long-term impact compulsory voter ID could have on vulnerable voters.
He said: “If they turn up at a polling station and they’re turned away because they don’t have the right ID… they will see it as a judgement on them – you don’t count and you are not eligible.
“All of those words are quite negative towards a cohort that already feels quite put upon and is already struggling with a whole host of issues.
“It’s just disenfranchisement on a grand scale.”
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Why will voters need photo IDs to vote?
Ministers say it’s necessary to prevent in-person voter fraud despite the vanishingly low number of cases: there was just one incident which initiated court proceedings across all UK elections last year, according to the Electoral Commission.
That is one reason why Conservative former minister David Davis says there must be an urgent rethink. “It’s preventing something that doesn’t happen,” he said.
“This is an answer to a problem that’s not there… are we actually going to discriminate against the old and the poor in our election system?”
Given the low uptake of free IDs, the MP for Haltemprice and Howden in West Yorkshire is calling on the government to pause the policy.
He said: “I would like it scrapped, but they’ve spent a lot of political effort putting it through parliament, parliament’s approved it, but the system they put in place to deal with the problem of those with no ID has not worked.
“I would at the very least just delay it and say, ‘look we will do this in due course when we’ve got enough of the people in that vulnerable group covered’. If they do that, at least it avoids the worst outcome which is thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people are prevented from voting and exercising their democratic right.”
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Responding to suggestions by critics that the policy is being pushed because it will disproportionately disadvantage Labour voters, he said: “We see in other countries a lot of gerrymandering… I don’t think that’s the reason behind this, and I hope it’s not.
“But if it were, it could turn out to be a spectacular miscalculation. Elderly voters – I suspect three quarters of them vote Conservative – this could blow up in our face. It is wrong morally, wrong politically.”
Hitting back against the criticism, a government spokesperson said: “We cannot be complacent when it comes to ensuring our democracy remains secure. Photo identification has been used in Northern Ireland elections since 2003.
“The vast majority of people already have a form of acceptable identification. We’re urging anyone who doesn’t to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate as soon as possible and we expect more people to apply over the next few weeks.
“We’re working closely with the sector to support the rollout and are funding the necessary equipment and staffing for the change in requirements.”
The deadline for applying for free voter ID in time to vote in May’s local elections is 5pm on 25 April.
A Gaza deal is “on the brink”, President Joe Biden has said in his final foreign policy address.
The outgoing US leader said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve
peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Pic: Reuters
The US president also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” he said.
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Mr Biden was delivering his final foreign policy address before he leaves office next week.
Monday’s address will be the penultimate time he speaks to the country before the end of his presidency. He is due to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
US and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip – but a deal has not been reached yet, officials said.
A round of ceasefire talks will be held in Doha on Tuesday to finalise remaining details related to a ceasefire deal in Gaza – including over the release of up to 33 hostages – officials added.
Mr Biden went on to claim America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
World
IDF admits ‘serious offence’ after using vehicle marked ambulance in raid in which a grandmother was killed
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has admitted to a “serious offence” after a Sky News investigation analysed CCTV footage showing the moment an 80-year-old Palestinian grandmother was shot in the West Bank.
Halima Abu Leil was shot during a raid in Nablus. The grandmother died soon after.
During the course of the investigation, we noted that a blue vehicle marked as an ambulance and with a red light on its roof was used by IDF troops to enter the West Bank.
Our investigation stated: “Figures who appear to be Israeli military forces exit the ambulance in the foreground. They are equipped with helmets, backpacks, rifles, and other gear.”
The use of a marked medical vehicle for a security operation could be a contravention of the Geneva Convention and a war crime – as well as Halima’s killing.
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CCTV shows Palestinian grandmother shot in IDF raid
The IDF has subsequently told Sky News: “On December 19, 2024, soldiers from the ‘Duvdevan’ unit took part in an operational mission to detain terrorists in Nablus.
“During the operation, an ambulance-like vehicle was used for operational purposes, without authorisation and without the relevant commanders’ approval.”
It added: “The use of the ambulance-like vehicle during the operation was a serious offence, exceeding authority, and a violation of existing orders and procedures.”
It also said the commander of the ‘Duvdevan’ unit was “reprimanded”.
However, it gave no update into the death of Halima, saying “the circumstances of the incident are being examined”.
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The United Nations Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese watched the CCTV video and told Sky News her death could be a “war crime”.
She said: “When I look at the footage, what emerges prima facie is that there were no precautions taken – within these operations whose legality is debatable – to avoid or spare civilian life.
“No principle of proportionality because there was wildfire directed at the identified target and ultimately no respect for the principle of distinction.
“So this was a murder in cold blood and could be a war crime as an extrajudicial killing.”
According to the United Nations Office Of Human Rights in occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 813 mostly unarmed Palestinians, including 15 women and 177 children, since 7 October 2023.
Ukraine’s president is offering a prisoner swap with North Korean soldiers it has captured, in exchange for Ukrainians held by Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a direct appeal to leader Kim Jong Un after seizing two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” he said in a video posted on X.
His video also included an offer of help to officials in California fighting the ongoing fires there.
It is the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia‘s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces, although Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un met in Pyongyang to sign a ‘military pact’ in June 2024. Pic: Kremlin Photo/AP
Mr Zelenskyy has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Mr Zelenskyy added.
He posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men, presented as North Korean soldiers.
One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
Ukraine said on Saturday it had captured two North Korean soldiers. Pic: Volodymyr Zelenskyy/X
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise. He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later.
He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
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Sky News has not been able to verify the video.
“One of them (soldiers) expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine, the other to return to Korea,” said Mr Zelenskyy, adding that for North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available.
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