Local elections 23: Don’t be put off by voter ID changes

For the uninitiated, it’s traditionally the date when you will hear the first cuckoo, as celebrated in Rudyard Kipling’s Cuckoo Song.

There is no need to thank me. It’s my pleasure.

What has this got to do with the local elections, Dennis? Only that on 18th April, four days after the said date, postal vote letters will be dropping softly onto your doormat. In political terms, it is the first signs of how we, as local politicians are likely to fare in the forthcoming elections – when you fill them in and return them.

The alternative is to go to the polling station with some form of ID.

Dr Ben Stanford, Senior Lecturer in Law at Liverpool John Moores University, said the new voter ID requirements are “certainly more strict than necessary to meet policy objectives and resemble the strictest laws seen in some US states”. He also estimates that two million UK adults currently lack the required photo ID to vote in polling stations.

“This is “quite an alarming statistic and suggests that hundreds of thousands of voters may be effectively disenfranchised”.

Disabled people, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, older people, people experiencing homelessness, people who are registered to vote anonymously, and Trans and non-binary people have been identified by the Commission as likely to need support with the new voter ID requirement.

So, is the government not being complacent to ensure our democracy remains secure or are we, in effect, solving a problem that doesn’t really exist? A debatable point, I’m sure you will agree.

We shall see whether the 30% who do usually vote, with a high percentage choosing to vote by post, is affected by the introduction of voter ID. What I can urge you to do, please, is to take part by exercising your democratic right and vote in the forthcoming election on 4th May. If you have a postal vote, please complete it yourself and use it or apply for or take ID and vote.

You may not have heard the first cuckoo yet, but you can make the most of your vote on 4th May.

Don’t be put off. If you pay your council tax, you pay for the services of your local councillors and that should be worth celebrating, every bit as much as St Tiburtius’ Day.

When I were a lad, LLM was a law degree, a Master of Law. When I was described by the Conservatives as the LLM, I was feeling incredibly pleased with myself. It will sit nicely alongside my existing MSc – or so I thought. Imaging how disappointed I was to find it stood for, in their parlance as “Latest Labour Mouthpiece”. Oh well. As Gloria Gaynor sang: “I will survive”.

I’m more than happy to see the personal insults coming in when the opposition is devoid of ideas. In another column, the old ‘coalition of chaos’ line was brought out of mothballs for an airing. Really?

Labour, like the Conservatives, is fielding candidates in every ward.

Come on folks. The smokescreen of insults to cover gaps in coherent policy, locally and nationally suggests even they are tired of trotting out the same stuff. Let’s make a deal. Don’t let the voter ID thing put you off. Use your vote, postal or otherwise, and let’s put this administration and government out of its misery on 4th May.