Queen’s Speech: Voters will have to show ID to vote under electoral reforms The Government believes the law will prevent election Fraud, but critics say it will stop some people from voting

Voters will have to show identification before voting in future elections under a proposed new bill which aims to tackle election fraud.

The Electoral Integrity bill will mean that voters have to produce a passport, driving license or other photographic ID in order to vote in upcoming elections.

The policy will outlaw postal ballot harvesting – where political parties collect and submit unused ballots.

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It will also make it illegal for a person to cast a proxy ballot for more than two voters.

Based on recommendations

The bill will be unveiled in full in Monday’s Queen’s Speech.

It is based on recommendations made by Sir Eric Pickles in 2016.

The former Cabinet minister made 50 recommendations in his report which he hoped would “make sure that people trust the system”.

While the new bill takes many steps to preventing fraud, it raises questions on how to tackle postal vote fraud, as well as how it could prevent a person from casting their ballot.

In his report, Sir Eric said it was inappropriate to limit postal voting to those who have ‘serious’ reasons because it would dissuade people from engaging in elections.

Instead, he suggested that those who cannot vote in person are given the opportunity to vote in a local council office up to three weeks before an election. He also recommended that a postal ballot could only be handed in by the voter, a relative or their carer.

Unable to vote

Labour have argued that the bill could prevent some people from voting, making it easier for the government to “rig” elections.

The claims come after past test schemes that replicated the proposed conditions meant that more than 750 people were unable to cast their ballot because they did not have a form of identification.

A spokesperson for the Government said that the proposed law was “vital” to “ensure that everyone’s vote counts and strengthen public trust in our democracy.”

They added that people without official identification would be able to apply for a free “electoral ID” for their local council.