The Conservatives have admitted to wrongly telling voters they don’t need ID to vote in next week’s local elections in England.
A campaign leaflet distributed by the Norfolk city borough was spotted by opposition campaigners and reported to the Electoral Commission after new voter ID rules came into force.
It clearly states that people don’t need to bring ID to vote “as long as you’re registered”.
New rules brought in by the Conservatives make photo identification compulsory for elections in England.
Passports, driving licenses and blue badges are among the forms of ID that are valid, as well as an older person’s bus pass.
Simon Jones, chairman of the Norwich Conservative Federation, said the leaflet had been “centrally produced and printed” from the Tory party’s headquarters.
“Unfortunately, their content contained information which was out of date and did not reflect recent changes to voter ID,” said the local chairman.
Jones said: “We delivered a small number of these before realising their mistake but suspended delivery as soon as the issue was identified.”
The local Tory chairman added: “We apologise, unreservedly, to the residents that received these and will be contacting them to correct the error as quickly as possible.”
The Liberal Democrats have written to Tory chairman Greg Hands demanding a party inquiry into the “highly misleading” local Tory leaflets.
The party’s local government spokesperson Helen Morgan asked: “Was the material for these leaflets centrally produced by Conservative campaign headquarters, and if so how many could have been printed across the country?”
The senior Lib Dem MP added: “How many more voters could have been wrongly told they don’t need photo ID to vote in next week’s local elections?”
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