“Giving the green light to election fraud”
Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore has slammed new plans by local Labour Representatives including Bradford Council’s Labour leadership to abolish the use of voter identification in elections, calling the plans “a danger to our local democratic process” and accusing Bradford’s Leader of “giving the green light to election fraud”.
The MPs comments come after Bradford Council’s leader Susan Hinchcliffe (Lab) is to present a new motion to Council at their next meeting (24th January) which seeks “not to implement” voter ID policy at the local elections in May 2023 – despite voter ID being required by law through the new Elections Act which was voted on and brought in by the Conservative government in April 2022, as is backed by the UK’s Electoral Commission.
According to the Electoral Commission, one in five reports of electoral fraud come from West Yorkshire, with cases including bribery, false statements and exerting undue influence on voters all being used to manipulate postal votes. Previously, when voting in a Polling Stations there was no requirement to show any identification, but this is all due to change nationally in an attempt to protect elections against fraud both at the Polling Station and via postal votes. Local MP Robbie Moore has previously spoken on many occasions in Westminster about election fraud and harassment and bullying at Polling Stations within Keighley, and has thrown his weight behind backing voter ID in Polling Stations and via postal votes to protect the democratic system from being abused.
Identification to vote has been backed by the Electoral Commission and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which state that its absence is a security risk.
The Electoral Commission states that since the introduction of photo ID in Northern Ireland, “there have been no reported cases of impersonation”, adding that “Voters’ confidence that elections are well-run in Northern Ireland is consistently higher than in Great Britain, and there are virtually no allegations of electoral fraud at polling stations.”
Robbie Moore MP says:
“Local Labour representatives and Bradford Council’s Labour Leader Susan Hinchcliffe are attempting to give the green light to election fraud with their party’s proposals to abolish the Government’s new voter ID requirement at the next local elections. Put frankly, Labour’s plan to overhaul national law are a danger to our local democratic process and directly contradict the position of the UK’s Electoral commission.
Cllr Hinchcliffe, who I note is standing for election herself this year, will know that one in five cases of electoral fraud already come from the West Yorkshire area, including cases of intimidation, bribery and cases where the head of a household guarantees multiple postal votes for one candidate, denying other family members their basic right to vote.
If you need ID to take a book out of a library or to collect a parcel, then I do not believe implementing voter ID is going to discourage anyone from voting. For anyone who has no ID, national law states that ID must be given to those who require it at no cost.
Our democratic process is precious, and we must get to grips with any form of electoral fraud – and here we have local Labour representatives actively wanting to overturn a common sense policy which is backed by so many people in Keighley. This is a clear example of Labour turning a blind eye to election fraud and their plans will severely damage efforts to stamp it out.”
Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative Group Leader on Bradford Council added:
“it is appalling that the Labour Group are not taking voter identification seriously. We will be opposing the Labour motion at Full Council and arguing that our democracy is precious and accuracy of elections is paramount. There will be no cost to anyone who does not already have suitable identification and the controlling Labour Group should be making sure Bradford Council is implementing this change correctly and working to support the minority who don’t have existing identification.”