Jacob-Rees Mogg has admitted to the National Conservatism conference that Voter ID was a form of ‘gerrymandering’, designed to scupper Labour voters (you can count in that a presumed big slug of younger people and Disabled people) which ended up scuppering Conservative voters (a massive amount of older people, also, often, Disabled people). “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,” he said.
Disability is, contrary to popular belief, a broad church. While many activists rail against Conservative policies which have seen the erosion of rights and benefits, there are, as Rees-Mogg points out, many Disabled people who do still vote Tory. So all sides lost us as crucial potential voters. It is appalling that the nuts and bolts of democracy were manipulated like this. Without fair systems that allow all the people to vote in any of the ways, we are on a slippery slope.
I’m surprised at his honesty, if not what he actually said. Given the unfairness of voter ID for so many Disabled and disenfranchised potential voters, I wonder if the Tories will now consider reeling it back in again?
