New Elections Bill threatens our liberty and democracy

The way those in power can be held to account is by casting our votes in elections. It is therefore worrying that the current Government is driving through new laws that will make our elections less free and less fair.

Should the Elections Bill be enacted it will let the Government itself set the priorities for the Electoral Commission, the currently independent elections watchdog that polices our elections. It does not stop there. The Bill introduces an expensive (up to £180 million over 10 years) and wholly unnecessary requirement for voters to produce photo identity documents at polling stations. It is estimated that this will lead to at least a million eligible voters being turned away from polling stations at the next election.

This comes just weeks after dozens of Conservative MPs were telling us: “We do not want a society where we ask for papers and deprive people of their liberty”.

The Elections Bill threatens our liberty and democracy. I urge local people to write to our MP to ask them to oppose it.