She didn’t have a good day yesterday.
^^
Today appeared to be a special Commons session for the hard of hearing, as MPs ranted at each other about the introduction of voter ID at the upcoming local elections. Had the volume not been so high the subject matter might have been suitable for insomniacs too.
^^
Batting for the Government was Rachel Maclean, Redditch MP, who prowled moodily around the dispatch box with the air of a hungover tiger who’d been told Boots in the Serengeti was out of paracetamol and Lucozade.
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Her pitch consisted of yelling out the same few talking points. One favourite factoid was the introduction of voter ID to Northern Ireland under Blair; this made more appearances than a Pavarotti curtain call. Another was the revelation that Labour candidate selections themselves require a show of ID.
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Maclean’s opening sallies drew outraged carpings and cries of “voter suppression!” from the Labour frontbench. But nostrils permanently flared, as if a nearby dungheap were troubling her delicate nasal passages, Maclean slapped her pen down and ticked off Labour’s Alex Norris for “chuntering at me from a sedentary position”.
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There are many sensible arguments against the new voter ID rules. We didn’t hear many of these today. For several of the most impassioned speakers, this was banana republic territory, a glorified coup.
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Kirsten Oswald laid out the SNP’s objections in heart-rending tones. She feared the requirement would disenfranchise the most marginalised, the disabled, and those from “minority ethnic backgrounds”.
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“What steps has the Electoral Commission taken,” Oswald enquired slyly, to a chorus of stifled sniggers, “to make sure all people, even those who don’t vote Conservative, can take part in elections?” Andrew Gwynne feared for the plight of immunocompromised people, forced to remove their face masks in polling stations.
A shout off ensued between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, minister and Slough MP: a case of “come friendly truth-bombs” as Maclean branded his question about voter ID inherently flawed. “I have answered the question already”, she snapped – amid a Punch and Judy-like chorus of “No you haven’t!” from Labour and SNP MPs. “It’s just that members opposite don’t like it!”
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SNP firebrand Pete Wishart accused the Government of “introducing voter fraud where none existed”.
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David Davis pointed out that in Tower Hamlets and other pocket boroughs, the real problem was postal vote-rigging, not voter impersonation.
Since Maclean couldn’t yell at one of her own, she reiterated her party’s commitment to the “sanctity of the ballot box”.