Oscar Parry, South East London Socialist Party
The Tories continue to pursue their voter suppression tactics, requiring all voters to have photo ID at all elections in England, and everywhere for UK general elections too. Photo ID will first be required for the local elections on 4 May.
The Local Government Association fears polling station staff could be “overwhelmed”. A quarter of people still don’t know that photo ID is required to vote.
People who do not have the right photo ID can apply for a ‘voter authority certificate.’ But the deadline to register has passed for the upcoming local elections.
60,000 people registered for voter ID. But two million people still don’t have an accepted form of ID.
Voter fraud is almost non-existent in the UK. In the past seven years, there have been just three convictions for voter impersonation.
Instead, there are barriers to democratic participation for minority groups that pose much more of a problem than the small number of cases of electoral fraud. Half of black people don’t have a driving license, and only two thirds of people from a Gypsy, Roma or Irish Traveller background have a passport.
The capitalist system is increasingly incapable of providing for working-class people. With other attacks on democratic rights, including restrictions on the ability to strike and protest, capitalist politicians are trying to undermine growing opposition to their system. It won’t work.
We urgently need a new mass workers’ party that will fight for a socialist alternative that includes inflation-proof pay rises, fully funded public services, council homes, rent control and more! The Socialist Party is against the new law, and we are fielding candidates as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on 4 May.
