Tory minister refuses to say if number of voters without photo ID will be fully recorded

Some venues will use ‘greeters’ outside, who will remind people about the need for ID but will not record the numbers who then do not vote. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

A minister has repeatedly refused to tell MPs whether the number of voters turned away from polling stations because of a lack of ID at local elections next week will be properly recorded, arguing that it is ultimately up to individuals whether or why they decide to vote.

In sometimes chaotic scenes in the Commons, a week before the first mass use of voter ID in the UK outside Northern Ireland, Rachel Maclean, a junior levelling up minister, was accused by a number of MPs of being unable to answer basic questions on how it would work.