Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, plays the bagpipes as she campaigns for the general election in the centre of Edinburgh yesterday.
London Evening Standard/London
Thousands of Londoners face being denied a vote despite seeking to register for the May 7 poll, a council chief warned yesterday.
Stephen Alambritis, Labour leader of Merton, blamed individual voter registration, introduced for this general election, for putting obstacles in the way of people wanting to take part in the ballot.
His council has around 1,000 would-be new voters whose National Insurance number details do not match the department for work and pensions’ NI database, which is checked before people are put on the electoral register.
If there is a discrepancy people are asked to provide proof of identity such as their passport.
Some of these problems, cropping up in boroughs across London which have been swamped by a last-minute rush to register, are believed to have arisen after women got married and took their husband’s surname, so their details do not match DWP records.
In other cases, people are understood to have made mistakes about their NI number when filling out registration forms.
Alambritis said: “There must be thousands of people in London who have tried to register but risk missing out as a result of this complex system. We do believe it’s some shenanigans to try to disenfranchise people who would normally vote for parties other than the coalition parties.”
The Conservatives and LibDems rejected this, saying the move from the “outdated” head-of-household system to individual voter registration will tackle electoral fraud.
They also stressed £10mn had been allocated to boost registration among hard-to-reach groups such as students. Merton and other town halls are urgently contacting individuals in danger of missing out on their vote.
