Tag Archives: elections

Tory ‘voter ID’ law stopped nearly 10,000 people voting in local elections

Vote: nearly 10,000 people (of whom we’re aware) were denied their democratic right because they didn’t have the right identification to take part in the local elections. But the joke is on the Tories because they’re the ones who missed out.

Nearly 10,000 people were prevented from voting in the local government elections earlier this month – not because they were trying to commit fraud but simply because they did not have the right kind of identification documents.

It was a consequence of the Tory government’s attempt to gerrymander democracy (according to former Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg) by ensuring that only certain forms of ID would be allowed at polling stations.

The claim was that the measure was introduced to prevent voter fraud – which has always been practically non-existent in in-person voting in the UK. Postal votes are much more vulnerable to manipulation – as we discovered when the Tories tried to get people to send postal voting forms to their own constituency associations.

Hilariously, the plan backfired because the Conservatives lost more than 1,000 council seats; the voters turned their back on the party in a huge rejection of the government and its local lackeys.

Here‘s the BBC’s story:

Information from 160 of 230 councils where polls were held this year shows 26,165 voters were initially denied ballot papers at polling stations.

Of these, 16,588 people came back with valid ID, whilst 9,577 did not return… Campaigners warn this would not capture all those affected.

Amazingly, the Tory lickspittles at the BBC had to include a line that the number of people who didn’t get to vote was “a relatively small number of voters”.

Not only does this fail to take into account votes lost from no fewer than 70 other councils, but there were reports of people being turned away before they were able to get inside polling stations, meaning their inability to vote did not, legally, have to be recorded.

So… what happens now?

Logically, the government should review the effect of its own legislation on its ability to win elections, and this should persuade it to alter or even repeal the “voter ID” law.

But the UK does not have a logical government.

The intention was to deny democracy to a large volume of the electorate, and in that sense it has succeeded.

I think the Tories will allow this insult to democracy to continue out of spite. They’ll probably say it needs to “bed in”.

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As predicted: thousands of disabled people couldn’t vote at the local elections

Read:

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Did Therese Coffey single-handedly lose the local elections for the Tories?

Raving it up: Therese Coffey likes to have a good time, and it isn’t hard to picture her dancing while the rivers overflow with condoms and tampons – or even while her government falls.

We all knew the wholesale pollution of our rivers and waterways with raw sewage, by privatised water companies, was one of the big issues of the local elections.

That’s why some of us see Feargal Sharkey as a hero of the anti-Tory effort:

But of course, he would not have had to lift a finger if the privatised water firms weren’t pumping sewage into our beloved, once-beautiful eco-system.

And who’s letting them do that? Therese Coffey, the Environment Secretary.

Still.

Perhaps it’s too early for the Tories to have got to grips with the reasons they lost 1,058 seats on local councils, because of the Coronation weekend.

But that doesn’t mean we should let Coffey off the hook. The damage being done every day is appalling.

For example:

“Onward to the general election,” says Mr Sharkey.

Yes. And the Tories probably won’t even have got the message by then!

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Sunak has FAILED. When is his resignation?

Sunak’s gamble: he should have resigned after losing more than 1,000 council seats in the local elections – but hasn’t. He may be hoping the other political parties fail to inspire voters, because he knows very well that he can’t.

Whatever you want to say about the other UK political parties in this year’s local elections, one thing is clear: the Conservative Party has lost – badly.

How many other times has a UK political party lost more than 1,000 council seats in a single election (1,058 in total)?

I’ll tell you, thanks to information from a lovely AI-powered search engine: None.

But that’s what happened on Thursday, May 4, 2023:

Tory leader and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak seemed remarkably unconcerned when he was interviewed about the extent of his party’s losses. Admittedly, at the time the full extent of those losses wasn’t known – but his decision to harp on about what the public wants him to do was also strange.

This is because of two reasons. Firstly, the local election results show quite clearly that the public doesn’t want its government to do what Sunak claimed; and secondly – as Peter Stefanovic explains below – his plans are b*ll*cks!

Those clever people who use local election results to project the result of the next general election have worked out that, if Thursday’s result was replicated, the Conservatives would suffer their second-worst defeat in history.

According to the prediction by Sky News,

the Tories would lose 127 MPs – dropping from 365 to 238.

This would be the lowest total for the Conservatives since the 198 seats it won in 2005.

That prediction, together with the solid result of Thursday’s poll, should be enough to eject Sunak from Downing Street, for the simple reason that it is clear he does not have the support of the voting public.

But he’s hanging on.

This Writer can only surmise that he is hoping the election result indicates that the public is not enamoured of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party either, and he has more than a year in which to try to regain the trust of the electorate.

He could also be hoping that the public won’t support independents and the Green Party at Westminster, polarising to the two main parties again. He may be mistaken in that!

But let’s be honest with ourselves: these are forlorn hopes.

Sunak doesn’t have the policies to win the public over, and his party doesn’t have the talent to replace him.

The best he can hope to do is limp on until he can’t put off a general election any longer (January 28, 2025 is the latest date available to him), and hope his government can do so much damage to the UK’s infrastructure by then that no incoming government will be able to sort out the mess.

Whichever Tory then replaces him will be able to claim that any such failure is the fault of the new party of government – not theirs – and hope to use that lie to win the following general election.

That’s UK politics for you. As far as the Tories are concerned, it isn’t about public service – it’s about holding on to power – or regaining it as soon as possible.

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Voter ID is working well for the Tories: look who it has disenfranchised

It seems the biggest success of the local elections in England this year is the new “voter ID” legislation that appears to have deprived huge numbers of people of the ability to vote.

Disability Rights UK claimed in advance of the election that

a large portion of the two million people identified as not having access to photo ID will be disabled individuals, many of whom will already be excluded from engaging in elections due to inaccessible practice.

There will also be many disabled voters with an intersectional experience e.g. disabled trans people, or disabled people experiencing domestic abuse, who already face additional barriers to accessing valid identification.

This Site has already reported that disabled people were set to be turned away from voting stations because of the requirement for them to remove their masks in order to be identified. This prediction seems to have come true.

Transgender people were likely to be turned away because their identity documents did not match their new name as recorded on the electoral roll, The Guardian reported.

The forms of identification that were accepted were limited – to a bizarre degree. Here’s Labour member of Parliament Peter Dowd, who was not allowed to use his Parliamentary photographic pass to identify himself:

And the above only mentions people who were turned away. It seems the legislation was highly successful at dissuading people from even bothering to apply for appropriate identification:

It’s been reported that only 85,000 people have applied for a free voter ID certificate in time for the May Local Elections, despite the Electoral Commission’s estimate that over 2 million voters in the UK don’t have access to photo ID.

The Guardian reports that the numbers applying from older and younger demographics are also especially low. Just 2,025 people aged 75-plus applied, and 3,334 aged under 25.

So almost two million people couldn’t be bothered to collect appropriate identification to vote in the elections.

We must remember that turnout in local elections is, historically, low – but it’s possible (at the time of writing I haven’t seen the figures) that because of the “voter ID” requirement, turnout in this particular election was historically low. I hope you appreciate the distinction.

And remember: last year

there was not a single proven case of in-person voter impersonation.

Worse than all of this, though, is evidence that staff at polling stations were instructed to turn away people without appropriate voter ID before they actually entered the buildings, so they would not have to obey part of the law demanding that any rejections must be recorded.

ITV News reported that tellers had told them between 10-25% of voters in Oxfordshire were unable to cast their ballots due to the new measures.

But East Anglia Bylines

discovered three polling stations in East Suffolk on Thursday where staff confirmed they had been briefed that, if possible, voters without voter ID were to be headed off before they entered the polling station proper, so they would not have to be recorded. The reason given by one polling clerk was that “it will save on the paperwork”.

If this were true, it was clearly in contravention of the Electoral Commission’s stipulations. The Commission has specified that those voters turned away because they don’t have the correct form of identification have to be registered, in order to draw up accurate data on the effects of the new legislation.

The claim, it seems, is that election officers at East Suffolk Council carried out the briefings. The council has denied this, but has apparently not been prepared to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile,

the three polling station staff were independently interviewed and were from different areas. A fourth later also volunteered the same information via social media

So we need to know whether polling station staff were briefed to act in this way; if so, how many polling stations were affected – and who gave the order for this to happen?

Accurate recording of the number of people whose attempts to vote were rejected is a requirement of the “voter ID” legislation, as described by the Electoral Commission:

By law, polling station staff must record data when a ballot paper can’t be issued because a voter didn’t have accepted form of ID. This includes data on people who are turned away and later return with accepted ID.

Were Tories behind this alleged breach of the law, falsely trying to make it seem that their “voter suppression” law had little effect on turnout?

If not them, then who?

Who else had an interest in faking the statistics?

Source: Thousands of Disabled people disenfranchised by the introduction of voter ID | Disability Rights UK

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#LocalElections2023: early winners are the Green Party – and candidates Labour expelled

The full results aren’t in yet, but already a lot of nonsense is being said about the local elections in England and Northern Ireland.

The Conservatives have taken a hammering; at the time of writing they’re something like 10 per cent down on their previous position and could end up with just a quarter of the total councillors in England – putting them in a precarious position ahead of any future general election.

Labour has won a couple of hundred seats so far but the percentage swing in that party’s direction is negligible. I saw it described as something like 0.1 per cent in the early-early morning coverage.

As the early results came in overnight, This Writer saw a Conservative commentator saying Labour had only benefited because Tory voters had stayed at home.

This struck me as ironic, considering the point of the Tory legislation on “voter ID” was to stop Labour voters from coming out.

In that circumstance, it seems reasonable to believe that Labour could have won many more seats from the Tories if not for the new law to suppress voters.

Meanwhile, the Green Party’s support has skyrocketed, with the party almost doubling its share of councillors already. That’s a 93 per cent gain.

But the biggest kick in the teeth for the main parties – especially Labour – is the strong performance of councillors who have been expelled from that party for being too left-wing (other excuses are available).

Usually when a person leaves a political party – or is, as in these cases, removed – and stand as an independent, they sink without a trace. Look at the performance of the Labour quitters who formed Change UK while Jeremy Corbyn was in charge, and then lost their seats in the 2019 general election.

Instead, independent left-wing candidates are retaining their seats across England.

Here are a few examples:

This is in Portsmouth:

This is in Windsor:

To me, this indicates that people are starting to give up on political tribalism – they’re not all voting for candidates just because of the name of the party those people represent.

Instead, they are voting for the people they know will represent them.

We should bear in mind that these are council elections in wards with low electorates and low turnouts.

But council election results are regarded as forecasts for general elections.

It would be welcome if more high-profile exiles from Labour – like Jeremy Corbyn, for example – took this as encouragement to seek election to Parliament as independents.

The times are changing. The Parliamentary elites have tried to dictate the policies we can support and the people available to get our vote – and across the country, people are saying they’re not going to put up with it.

It’s the way we are. We’ll put up with a lot – but there come a point when someone will try to tell us what to do and we’ll say: “No.”

It would be nice to think it’s because our culture has an innate sense of decency.

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If you haven’t voted, check this map of sewage discharges in your area first

It’s still the big issue of the local elections, and now you can find out how big it is in your part of England.

(This is only really relevant to England because England is the only part of the UK that has totally privatised water companies.)

I refer of course to sewage pollution, as permitted by the Conservative government – and not (yet) restricted following a motion for such action in Parliament last week.

And it’s the normally Tory-supporting Express that’s sticking in the knife!

 

Here’s that “horror” map, for your information:

If you’re not happy that these profit-makers devoted their cash to paying huge dividends to their shareholders rather than on properly processing your sewage, your vote today is the only say you can express that… displeasure.

Remember: not only are these firms destroying the ecosystem, they are also charging you a fortune for the meagre services they provide because they know they have a monopoly in their part of the country.

If the Tories get a good result, they’ll be encouraged to allow worse from their corporate friends and donors.

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Public Order Act: are you really happy for people to be arrested for walking slowly?

Police: mind how fast you walk, otherwise you’re nicked!

This Writer is not a massive fan of Just Stop Oil – some of that group have committed acts of vandalism that I can’t condone.

That being said, is there really a good reason for arresting these people because they’ve been walking slowly down a street?

Here’s what a vote for the Conservatives has achieved:

Who benefits?

The police don’t. They look like tinpot tyrants.

Any drivers who were held up by the slow walking? They don’t. They’ll have been stopped by the cops to give witness statements so that’s more time out of their day.

Suella Braverman? No. She comes across as a fascist.

The Tory government? Possibly – because more people know about the Public Order Act than have (so far) experienced how it works, and a proportion of them will approve of the idea of punishing protesters.

Then again, it is also possible to dissuade the Tory government from believing that. You just vote for somebody else in today’s (May 4, 2023) local elections (if you’re in England or Northern Ireland) and hope that enough other people have done the same.

The trouble with that is, it’s like one of those ‘trust’ exercises. Or the “prisoner’s dilemma” in game theory – people bank on everyone acting for personal gain rather than voting in everybody’s interest.

So now you have another reason to vote against the Tories.

Or have you?

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The pollution in our waterways is appalling; penalise the Tories for allowing it

“One of the most effluent nations in the world”: sewage by the seaside courtesy of the Conservatives. Let your local council know how you feel about that – if you can!

Some of the following tales of government-approved pollution in the UK’s waterways are shocking; horrifying.

Your elected representatives have apparently failed to hold the Tories to account for allowing it – but if you are in England or Northern Ireland, you have an opportunity to make them pay at the ballot box tomorrow (Thursday, May 4).

Just glance at these latest accounts of the ongoing natural disaster, which I present below without further comment, and take such action as you consider appropriate:

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In the final days before the local elections, remember what the Tories have done to you

The ballot box: people across England and Northern Ireland will be voting in local government elections on Thursday (May 4). If you’re among them, have you taken time to think about the havoc Tories in Westminster have caused to your council and its services?

If you’re an ordinary member of the public who is not a Tory donor or friend, or a big businessperson, then you have absolutely no reason to vote ‘Conservative’ in the local elections in England and Northern Ireland on Thursday.

Big businesses have made a fortune from Conservative government…

… and so have company bosses. But you are losing more cash with every day of Tory rule that passes:

Bear in mind that top chief executive officers already received huge payments for what they did, so a four per cent rise is equal to a lot of money.

Meanwhile, your 2.5 per cent cut is based on an average income of £28,000, meaning a loss of £700. Could you do with £700 right now?

(I could.)

Of course, Tory plans mean you will lose more money in the near future. Do you have any idea how much they’re dragging out of us all in tax?

So in the couple of days that are left, how about spending a moment thinking about what Tory policies have given to you – and how much they have taken away.