As with the call for extensive boundary changes, it is a very strange thing for a newly elected Government, with a large parliamentary majority, to seem to suggest that its country suffered from widespread electoral fraud.
Having captured the Blyth, Don and Rother Valleys, the Conservatives now propose to reward their inhabitants by taking away their right to vote. The poor cannot afford to drive. They certainly cannot afford to travel when, even in full time work, they are struggling to eat, something about which the Queen's Speech does at least propose to take some action. Yet, or indeed therefore, here comes Jim Crow voter identification again.
Of course, behind all of this is the Home Office's solution in search of a problem since time immemorial, identity cards. Not for the first time, it is attempting to convince us that there exists a malady for this remedy already decided upon.
But electoral fraud is vanishingly rare in Britain, if it exists at all here. Across all elections held in 2015, when there were local elections and a General Election on the same day, there were 51.4 million votes cast.
Having captured the Blyth, Don and Rother Valleys, the Conservatives now propose to reward their inhabitants by taking away their right to vote. The poor cannot afford to drive. They certainly cannot afford to travel when, even in full time work, they are struggling to eat, something about which the Queen's Speech does at least propose to take some action. Yet, or indeed therefore, here comes Jim Crow voter identification again.
Of course, behind all of this is the Home Office's solution in search of a problem since time immemorial, identity cards. Not for the first time, it is attempting to convince us that there exists a malady for this remedy already decided upon.
But electoral fraud is vanishingly rare in Britain, if it exists at all here. Across all elections held in 2015, when there were local elections and a General Election on the same day, there were 51.4 million votes cast.
There were only 26 allegations of in-person electoral fraud. Twenty-six. And there were no convictions. Not one. Yet we became a different country on 3rd May last year, as people were denied their right to vote because they had failed to present their State papers. Guess which people.
Next up, naturally from The Guardian, we have already had a call for a variation on the literacy tests that the Southern United States used to employ in order to prevent blacks from voting. What next? The Jim Crow Poll Tax? Nor will it end there. Unless we stop this whole trend, right here and now.
The Blair Government loved identity cards, and most Labour MPs remain Blairite to the core. But I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
The Blair Government loved identity cards, and most Labour MPs remain Blairite to the core. But I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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