The UK’s House of Lords has inflicted a defeat on the government over its plans to introduce photographic voter ID. Voters casting their vote in polling stations in England, Scotland, and Wales currently do not need to present any form of identification, though photographic voter ID is a requirement in Northern Ireland. The Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto committed to introducing the requirement to produce identification in order to vote at a polling station. The Elections Bill, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government introduced in May 2021, requires all voters to show an approved form of photographic identification before collecting their ballot paper to vote in a polling station, in line with the current practice in Northern Ireland. Under the terms of the bill, a free voter card would be available from local councils for people without a suitable form of ID. But on April 6, the House of Lords …