Slough MP Tan Dhesi backs council decision to quit voter ID scheme

Slough MP Tan Dhesi says he ‘100 per cent’ supports Slough Borough Council’s decision to withdraw from a Government-funded voter ID pilot scheme.

Speaking on BBC Radio Berkshire on Tuesday, the Labour MP called the scheme a ‘Trojan horse’.

“The Tories are trying to introduce this, not to tackle election fraud but basically just to knock out not hundreds but millions of voters and disenfranchise them,” he said.

He referenced Electoral Commission figures which say 3.5million people, or 7.5 per cent of the UK population, do not have photo ID.

Mr Dhesi said that, since 2010, there have been 481 allegations of electoral fraud nationally, none of which were in Slough and only three per cent resulted in further investigation.

He referenced a University of California study which suggested that photo ID laws reduce turnout among low income, ethnic minority and elderly citizens.

Mr Dhesi made the same arguments at the Langley Neighbourhood Forum this week.

Slough Borough councillor Amarpreet Dhaliwal (Con, Langley St Mary’s) said voters with forms of non-photo ID may have been able to register for ID cards on polling day if the scheme had been allowed to develop.

Slough Borough Council voted to withdraw from the scheme last week, having previously backed the idea.