My conservative MP Mel Stride supports Voter ID because it is “just common sense”. That is a convenient argument if you have no evidence. Let’s take a look at the evidence.

He says the problem is “not thought to be widespread”. That’s putting it mildly, according to the Electoral commission data, in the 2019 General election there were NO convictions or cautions for personation fraud (a vote cast by the wrong person). There were just 34 allegations, none leading to conviction, out of 47.6 million votes. That is 0.00007%. This is a crime that is not actually happening.

He is dismissive of claims that this will discourage people from voting, but again the evidence does not support him. In a 2019 pilot scheme for Voter ID in two constituencies, 740 voters were turned away for lack of ID, and did not return. That is 0.4% of legal votes denied purely because of this scheme. Nationally that would be 200,000 votes lost. That is not an estimate, these are real people trying to vote, and being denied. The Electoral Reform Society has very good referenced information on these issues.

He claims (but does not cite specific evidence, so we cannot check it), that not having expensive lifestyle documents like driving license and passport is not correlated to age, or ethnicity. He doesn’t mention wealth. My common sense says that people without these documents are unlikely to be Tory voters.

He says the government will require local authorities to provide a free voter card. Will his government provide local authorities with the funds to administer this scheme? It seems unlikely given the funding cuts his party oversees. Many of us from all parties campaign to encourage people to register to vote, but it is hard for the younger, more mobile, and renters. We need voting to be easy.

He cites the mayoral election in Tower Hamlets in 2014 as an example of what he is opposing. I wasn’t aware of this case but it makes interesting reading. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32428648.

Allegations that were upheld do include Voting fraud, but not the wrong person voting. It was double casting, or casting from wrong addresses. Surely this is fixed by tightening control of the voting register. This is not about legitimate votes being cast by the wrong person. Voter ID will not help if a fraudulent register entry has already been created.

Most of the other allegations were not about Voter ID at all.

• False statements made against rivals

• Bribery: large amounts of money were given to organisations who were “totally ineligible or who failed to meet the threshold for eligibility”

• Treating: providing free food and drink to encourage people to vote for …

• Spiritual influence

What is my conservative MP doing about these issues? Using this case to defend Voter ID is extremely misleading. Voter ID will skew elections in their favour. We should instead be making legitimate voting easier, and tackling electoral funding, and dark advertising. Does my MP care about democracy or his own victory? As the judge said of the Tower Hamlets case: “It is the result of the ruthless ambition of one man.” I can see what he means.

(This piece was published in western Morning news and in Mid Devon advertiser)