Birmingham General election 2024 areas where thousands of voters don't have appropriate ID

Several areas across Birmingham each have thousands of registered voters with no qualifying ID - potentially denying them a chance to vote in the upcoming General Election. New laws requiring voter ID were introduced last year, with the local elections in England on May 4 last year being the first in Britain to require voters to show identification before being issued with a ballot paper.

However, exclusive data from Survation and Royal Holloway, University of London suggests that more than 1.9 million people are registered but lack appropriate ID to vote - some 4 per cent of all those registered. The proportion is much higher in some areas however.

Over in both Wakefield West in West Yorkshire and Liskeard Central in Cornwall, an estimated 39 per cent of registered voters don’t have ID, affecting thousands of people. Meanwhile, the worrying figures suggest Quinton in Birmingham has 16,423 registered voters without qualifying ID - around 21.5 per cent.

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HAVE YOUR SAY: Birmingham Live General Election 2024 Survey

Here is a selection of Birmingham areas with some of the highest percentages in the city:

• Quinton // 16,423 // 21.5 per cent

• Holyhead // 8,043 // 16.6 per cent

• Glebe Farm & Tile Cross // 17,107 // 16 per cent

• Pype Hayes // 8,343 // 16 per cent

• Bromford & Hodge Hill // 15,531 // 14.1 per cent

Chris Hanretty, Professor of Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, said: "The vast majority of registered voters have photo ID, but a small proportion don't, and that small proportion gets bigger in some areas. If just a few of these voters without ID turn up to vote, we can expect lots of stories about people being disenfranchised."

Voters can use passports, driving licences, Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) cards, Blue badges, and some concessionary travel cards. People without an existing acceptable form of voter ID can also apply online or by post for a free Voter Authority Certificate (VAC).

The deadline to apply for a VAC in order to vote in the Parliamentary General Election on Thursday, July 4 is 5pm on Wednesday, June 26 In its statutory report, produced in September 2023, the Electoral Commission found that some people found it harder than others to show accepted voter ID, including disabled people, younger voters, people from ethnic minority communities, and the unemployed.

The Commission and others have recommended the list of allowable ID be reviewed and consideration be given to making the voter ID rules more accessible to the most affected groups. However, the Government rejected calls for additional types of ID to be added to the list, saying the implementation of voter ID was “conducted efficiently with very few voters initially turned away”.

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