The government has said it “does not believe this would be an appropriate form of identification, as it is insufficiently secure”. The most recent research conducted by the Electoral Commission in February 2022 found that 4% of people in Britain—equivalent to around 1.9 million voters—did not have any of the pre-existing forms of photo ID required to vote. (Meanwhile older research published by the Electoral Commission in 2015 suggested as many as 3.5 million people might not have any of the forms of photo ID it recommended.) NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank, which are all part of the NatWest Group, will now shut at least 172 of their bank branches in 2023 and 2024.

The government says that voter ID is “a reasonable and proportionate way to confirm that someone is who they say they are when voting, thus stamping out the potential for voter fraud to take place”. However critics of the measure, including Labour and the Liberal Democrats, say there is little evidence of voter fraud taking place at a significant level during elections in the UK, and warn voters could be left disenfranchised if they don’t hold a valid form of ID. NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank to close at least 172 branches in 2023/24 – here's the full list, plus alternatives There were also differences in the likelihood of people having photo ID based on ethnicity, disability, employment status and voting history, among other factors.

What about the 16-25 Railcard?

On National Rail services in London, travel free after 9:30 weekdays, and any time on weekends and public holidays. Martin Lewis: What the Autumn Statement means for you – including wages, benefits, pensions, ISAs, national insurance and more Those who do not have a valid form of photo ID are able to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate, though the deadline for doing this ahead of the upcoming local elections in England has now passed. Around 85,000 people applied online for a certificate ahead of the deadline, according to government figures. Autumn Statement: Workers to pay less in national insurance – but rate cuts don't offset the freezing of personal tax thresholds It is true that an amendment to the Election Bill was passed in the House of Lords which would have extended the list of valid voter ID, but this was later overturned in the House of Commons.

Your Visitor Oyster Card will be cancelled. This means that you won’t be able to use it for future travel. You can still use the card to take advantage of the special offers and discounts available with the card. On social media, much of the attention has been focused on what specific forms of ID are and aren’t allowed.

The government says that the 18+ Student Oyster card is not accepted as a form of voter ID because it “does not have a suitably secure application process for it to be used as photographic identification at polling stations”, whereas the 60+ Oyster card “has more rigorous processes”. Oyster cards aren’t the only form of ID we’ve seen questions about on social media—we’ve also seen some people question why the 16-25 Railcard isn’t considered valid, given online applicants aged 16-25 must provide “a passport, UK driving licence or EEA national identity card”. Both employees and self-employed workers will pay less in National Insurance from next year, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in today's Autumn Statement.

There are some forms of student ID which are accepted as voter ID, including any student card which is PASS accredited—that is, part of the National Proof of Age Standards Scheme—such as the NUS Totum card.Use your Freedom Pass between 9:30 and 23:00 on weekdays and anytime on weekends and public holidays. Using bus passes if you don't live in London In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere. Prices vary according to the time of day and which zones you travel in. See a chart of all the journey prices hereand a map of travel zones here. For more information about prices, see the Frequently Asked Questions tab. If you've got an English National Concessionary Scheme bus pass, issued by an English council outside of London, you can travel on our buses. Just show your pass to the driver. Related content

She added: "Allowing the hard copy version of a young person's railcard but not a digital version could lead to voter confusion.” The introduction of voter ID has been the subject of significant controversy since it was passed into law last April. According to the House of Commons Library, estimates for the number of people who are eligible to vote but don’t have a pre-existing form of ID accepted for voting range from 925,000 to 3.5 million.

MSE News

Make sure you touch in at the start of your journey and touch out at the end on yellow card readers. You only need to touch in on buses and trams. Find out more about touching in and out. Using your Freedom Pass outside London The survey also found that younger people were slightly more likely than the general population to hold a form of photo ID, with 99% of those aged 18-29 holding a form of photo ID, compared to 98% of those aged 70 plus. The graphic in question appears to be taken from an article shared by the Electoral Reform Society (which is linked to in one of the tweets being shared as a screengrab on Facebook), published in November 2022. You can travel free on TfL services with your Older Person's Freedom Pass from 09:00 weekdays and anytime at weekends and on bank holidays. However, the 98% figure includes people who said they held photo ID which had expired, or had a photo which was no longer recognisable. The Cabinet Office survey found that only 91% of people said they had photo ID which was both in-date and recognisable (according to the Electoral Commission you can still use out-of-date photo ID as voter ID, so long as it is still recognisable as you).