Identity Politics

Two million people have just lost the vote, and on the same day it has been made illegal to protest. But which voters were they?

The poor now split evenly between Labour and the Conservatives, whereas the rich are now more likely to vote Labour. The poor are more numerous than the rich, and here we are. It is no wonder that Labour is keeping quiet about this mass disenfranchisement. Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake.

If the argument is that photographic identification to vote already exists in Northern Ireland, then the Government is expressing an existential fear of at least half the electorate, although, as set out above, it is quite wrong to have such a fear. The silent Opposition, on the other hand, has every reason.

Requiring photographic identification to vote is not about electoral fraud. It is only partially about even voter suppression. This is about identity cards, which have been the Home Office's solution in search of a problem for as long as I can remember.

And identity cards obtained from whom? The Passport Office and the DVLA, documentation from one or other of which is now required in order to exercise the franchise, are about to be privatised. Who is going to buy them? Infosys? The foreign states that have bought the utilities and the rail companies? Who, exactly?