My Lords, I will not go over the ground that we have already covered—and there has been a lot—and will just speak to my amendments. Like a number of others in this group, they extend the acceptable forms of voter identification to broaden them out to include non-photographic identity documents. As has been said, the manifesto commitment for voter ID was not for photographic ID, but we respect the fact that the Government had a manifesto commitment to voter ID. My Amendment 6, in particular, would allow a polling card to be an accepted form of identification and would allow for the vouching system currently used in Canada, for example.
The noble Lord, Lord Rennard, mentioned that polling cards were used as the primary method of identification in some of the pilot schemes that were held and that some used a QR code on the card, which was then scanned at the polling station. It was felt that this was more secure but more expensive. However, the evaluation of the pilots also noted that:
“It is also not clear … that additional IT in polling stations … is absolutely necessary to support the use of the poll card as a form of identification.”
We believe on these Benches that the Government need to look at this again.
The Government could learn a lot from Canada on this subject. Its vouching system allows a citizen who has ID and appears on the electoral roll to sign an affidavit to confirm the identity of another voter who does not have identification. That provides a clear paper trail linked to registered voters so that any suspicions of irregularities can be investigated. It also ensures that many citizens without identification, or those who feel uncomfortable providing it, can still cast their vote.
In Canada, it is possible to present identification in up to 50 different formats. We have heard that even the Pickles report, on which the Government are leaning heavily in this part of the Bill, suggests that utility bills could be included as a possibility. The noble Lord, Lord True, has stated that photographic ID is the most “secure and appropriate” model of voter ID. However, the Government have consistently failed, as we have heard today from other noble Lords, to provide any evidence of personation fraud that would require this tightening of security around voters’ identity. As the noble Lord, Lord Woolley, said, the case for fraud has not been made.
In Committee the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, said that the issue is
“about making sure that as many people as possible take up their democratic right to vote”.—[Official Report, 17/3/22; col. 550.]
I could not agree more. However, if that is the Government’s intention, I genuinely do not understand why amendments to expand the acceptable documentation
are not being accepted. We debated this long in Committee. We have heard again today that the availability of identification is lower among a certain number of groups and would likely drive down participation. There is clear evidence to support this. As my noble friend Lord Grocott said, this is a new hurdle. Enabling non-photographic identification and the adoption of a vouching system, as in my amendment, would help to mitigate against the serious concerns about the impact of photographic voter identification on turnout.
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My noble friend Lady Lister mentioned engagement. Noble Lords will be aware that I have previously expressed concern about the lack of engagement in and scrutiny of much of this Bill. The Minister has claimed that extensive engagement has taken place to understand the needs of voters with protected characteristics, and that there has been a significant programme of work to engage civil society organisations. Unfortunately, despite considerable concern from groups representing voters with protected characteristics and wider civil society groups, nothing in the proposals has changed and the Government have adopted the most stringent form of voter identification possible.
If the Government were keen to gather views, they could have done so with pre-legislative scrutiny of the proposals and a search for consensus and common ground. I repeat my request to the Minister for post-legislative scrutiny of parts of the Bill—including this clause, which will have a huge impact on the way in which our elections are run. Does he also accept that we need a much wider range of acceptable identification documents so that, if the Government insist on bringing in voter identification at the polling booth, it will have as little impact on participation as possible?
We believe that my Amendment 6 and Amendment 7 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, are compatible with Amendment 8 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Willetts. I commend the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Willetts; if he tests the opinion of the House, we will support it.