Police could be called to 'flare ups' at polling stations amid new voter requirement

Police could be called to 'flare ups' at polling stations, a Manchester councillor has warned as voters are required to present identification at the ballot box for the first time this year. Labour councillor Pat Karney has predicted that some voters will be turned away at the local elections in May for failing to show ID.

It comes as new laws will require all voters to show photo ID at polling stations this year. Anyone who does not have a passport, driving licence or another acceptable form of identification can apply for a free voter ID document.

According to a new parliamentary report, it is estimated that up to 3.5m voters across the UK do not have an accepted form of ID. But, as of last week, just 291 people had applied for the Voter Authority Certificate in Manchester.

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Coun Karney described the national policy as a 'democratic disaster' and accused the government of trying to suppress voting in working class areas and among young people and Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. However, he also criticised the town hall for being 'quite slugglish' in communicating the new requirements to voters in the city.

Making comparisons to the USA where similar rules have been introduced, he urged Mancunians to 'fight back' and called on Manchester council to be more 'proactive'. He said: "I fear that with the ID ignorance in the city and the lack of knowledge about it, that there's going to be flare ups at polling stations and I think for the first time in this country, we'll see the police called to polling stations to sort situations out.

"People who've voted all their lives and know the protocol and then they turn up and then