EXPANDING the voter ID pilot tested in Swindon this year to polling stations across the country could cost more than £20 million.

Campaigners have called on ministers to abandon the plans, with the Electoral Reform Society questioning whether it was cost effective.

The government says forcing people to bring some form of identification with them to the polling station, such as their polling card or drivers’ licence, would cut voter fraud. However, speaking to the Independent, Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, criticised the plans: “We already knew that this policy was a solution looking for a problem, but it now looks like it will be an expensive one at that.

“The government’s draconian plan to force voters to prove themselves at the polling station could add as much as £20m to the cost of each election.That’s over £700,000 per allegation of polling station fraud last year, a lot of money to throw at unverified rumours when we know there are real democratic problems to fix.”

Cabinet Office estimates suggest rolling out the poll card model nationwide, which was tested in Swindon at May’s local elections, could cost between £4.3m and £20.4m.

Labour’s shadow minister for voter engagement, Cat Smith, said: “Local authority election teams are already facing huge financial pressures after eight years of extreme Tory cuts and the government has no plans to address these concerns.”

An Electoral Commission assessment of the Swindon trial published last month concluded it had been broadly successful.

But Coun Jim Robbins said there was no need to go on with the voter trial: “There’s no evidence that there’s been any issues with voter fraud in Swindon in living memory. No one has been able to convince us that this is a problem that needs to be solved.”

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said asking voters to prove their identity was the right approach. He told the Independent: “Evaluation from the May 2019 pilots will further inform how voter ID should work on a national scale, including costs and what approach will work best for voters and the taxpayer.”