More than 100 West Norfolk voters turned away from polling stations due to incorrect ID during local elections

More than 100 voters were turned away from polling stations in West Norfolk due to not having the correct ID.

The new ID policy was introduced by the Conservative Government last year, with the promise that it would help tackle voter fraud.

This led opponents to argue that the level of fraud is low and that the policy would disenfranchise people who are unaware of the change and do not carry ID.

And in our borough, 101 residents were turned away due to their lack of identification – with just 64 of them returning to complete their vote.

This means 37 people missed out on their chance to have their say in the local elections.

They joined hundreds of Norfolk voters who were turned away, with 667 denied entry across the county – 233 of whom never returned with the correct ID.

This far outweighs the number of cases of electoral fraud in the 2022 elections, which led to one court proceeding and one caution.

In North Norfolk, 91 voters were turned away – with 62 returning. In Breckland, 54 of the 76 residents to show up with no ID came back to record their votes.

The figures have been released after Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Business Secretary, described the photo ID requirement as “gerrymandering”.

Speaking at the National Conservativism Conference, 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.”