Keir Starmer’s government won’t be the first to engage in gerrymandering when it seeks to lower the voting age from 18 to 16, inviting into the polling booths a group which most people suspect will be more inclined to vote Labour. But could Labour’s elections Bill end up being more radical than that?
The Labour-linked think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has just published a report arguing for more extensive reforms, including removing the requirement for photo ID at polling booths, automatic voter registration and giving the vote to foreign nationals who are long-term residents of Britain. They also include holding elections at the weekend and introducing ‘election day service’ rather like jury service, where members of the public would be selected at random to help come and count the votes.
Would those missing renters mostly vote for left-wing parties?
Such reforms, says the IPPR, are ‘the only solution to the heightening doom loop of voting patterns, skewed policy and populist politics’.
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