Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve access to photographic identification.

Research by Verian, commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, found that 2-4% of the 18+ UK population do not own an accepted form of identification that would enable them to vote in person at a polling station.

The Government believes the current Voter ID rules are too restrictive. We are therefore bringing forward changes, as part of the Representation of the People Bill, to allow the use of UK-authorised in-date bank cards as identification at polling stations in Great Britain. This will allow a greater proportion of electors to more easily meet the voter identification requirements. The Verian research found that, with the introduction of this new measure, the proportion of the 18+ UK population without a form of accepted ID would fall to less than 1%.