Rishi Sunak and Tory MPs at risk of election wipe out could keep seats over voter ID confusion, poll suggests
Rishi Sunak and other high-profile Conservatives could keep their seats because of voter ID confusion in the next general election, a new poll suggests.
The government passed legislation in 2022 requiring Britons to show photo ID despite warnings it would prevent thousands from voting.
The new rules came into force last year – with a choice of one of 22 forms of ID in order to vote – but resulted in 14,000 individuals being turned away from polling booths in the 2023 local elections.
While recent surveys suggest the Tories could win fewer than 100 seats in the general election, campaigning organisation Best for Britain said the lack of awareness about voter ID laws could prove “decisive” in some MPs keeping their constituencies.
The group’s chief executive Naomi Smith said: “While polls suggest it won’t be enough to change the result of the next general election, the introduction of unnecessary photo ID could be the difference between victory and defeat for high profile Conservatives in marginal constituencies.”
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From 2023: Voter’s ID ‘wasn’t accepted’
According to a March survey on behalf of Best for Britain, the Conservative Party is projected to win 98 seats based on current polling, with the prime minister, Jeremy Hunt and Liz Truss set to see majorities in their constituencies cut to less than 5%.
However the poll, which surveyed 15,000 people, showed that 16% of respondents did not know they would need ID to vote.
If that figure was repeated nationwide, the campaign group said that around five million Britons would be turned away from polling booths.
Best for Britain also projected that around 1.85 million people in marginal seats do not know about voter ID rules, including around 9,800 people in Mr Sunak’s constituency – which will be Richmond and Northallerton in North Yorkshire as of the next election.
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Best for Britain said a survey found that 16% of people did not know they would need ID to vote. Pic: PA
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it would “work closely with local authorities and other partners to raise awareness” about voter ID requirements.
A spokesperson added: “As recommended by international election watchdogs, we introduced a requirement to show photographic identification for voting in person across Great Britain, in line with the longstanding arrangements in Northern Ireland.
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“We are committed to ensuring everyone can have their say in our democracy, and the Electoral Commission will continue to conduct public awareness campaigns ahead of each set of relevant polls.
“The vast majority of voters in the polling station – 99.75% – cast their vote successfully at the local elections in England last May.”
Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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