Post by northwestman on May 15, 2023 23:26:53 GMT 1
news.sky.com/story/jacob-rees-mogg-suggests-requiring-photo-id-to-vote-was-attempt-to-gerrymander-which-came-back-to-bite-tories-12881602
The government's new voter ID rules were an attempt to "gerrymander" the electoral system which "came back to bite them", a former minister has suggested.
Jacob Rees-Mogg made the comments having supported the proposals when he was in government under Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
The local elections this month were the first time that voters in England were required to show photo identification in order to cast their ballots.
Mr Rees-Mogg's statement suggests that the reforms were an attempt to boost the Conservative Party's support, rather than to reduce electoral fraud - as had been said in public.
Speaking at the National Conservatism conference in Westminster, Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them, as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections.
"We found the people who didn't have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well."
The government's new voter ID rules were an attempt to "gerrymander" the electoral system which "came back to bite them", a former minister has suggested.
Jacob Rees-Mogg made the comments having supported the proposals when he was in government under Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
The local elections this month were the first time that voters in England were required to show photo identification in order to cast their ballots.
Mr Rees-Mogg's statement suggests that the reforms were an attempt to boost the Conservative Party's support, rather than to reduce electoral fraud - as had been said in public.
Speaking at the National Conservatism conference in Westminster, Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them, as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections.
"We found the people who didn't have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well."
