COMPULSORY voter ID is a “disastrous and shambolic” policy which must be reversed, campaigners demanded today after the elections watchdog said some people wanting to vote in England’s local elections were turned away.

Electoral Commission chairman John Pullinger said he witnessed people being stopped from voting and stressed there is a need to “get underneath” the issues behind the problem.

Today’s poll was the first since the Tory government’s widely condemned Elections Act 2022, which created a requirement for voters to show a passport, driving licence or other permitted form of ID in English local elections or British general elections.

Ministers claimed the move was needed to combat voter fraud, but opposition parties and campaigners stressed the change was akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

There were a handful of voter impersonation reports out of the tens of millions of ballots cast in 2019, but experts warn up to two million people — mainly younger and ethnic minority voters who tend to vote Labour — could now be disenfranchised as they are more likely to lack the required ID.

Mr Pullinger told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We do need to gather data before we get a proper picture, but I was out and about [on Thursday] and I saw people being turned away. 

“Everyone who has the right to vote should be able to cast their ballot.”

Unlock Democracy’s Tom Brake said: “Reports confirm our very worst fears of the impact of this disastrous policy which has been made worse by the shambolic way it has been introduced.”

And SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman warned of a “serious threat” to the next general election, due in 2024, saying: “One person being denied their right to vote is one too many.”