Under the Elections Act 2022, UK voters are legally obliged to provide photo ID before casting a ballot, in line with a system in place in Northern Ireland since 2007.

“We know lots of people contacted their local council about this and were told this was the guidance,” he said. “And we know many people said if that was the case then they weren’t even going to go to the polling station as they don’t want to risk it.”

The Electoral Commission, the polling watchdog, said it would take weeks to work out the impact of the new law on voting numbers.

“We already know from our research that the ID requirement posed a greater challenge for some groups in society, and that some people were regrettably unable to vote today as a result,” it said. “It will be essential to understand the extent of this impact, and the reasons behind it, before a final view can be taken on how the policy has worked in practice.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jim Pickard

After almost 13 years of austerity and grave damage to the public sector’s capacity as a result of the pandemic, the IfG report said “it is unclear whether the government will find existing funding levels to be politically sustainable in the run-up to the next election”, which must be called by the end of 2024.

It added: “The situation will be even harder for whoever forms the next government.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jim Pickard

The Home Office has confirmed that one man who died after being held for days at Manston had received a positive test for the disease amid overcrowding at the centre.

Manston, which was built for a maximum of 1,600 people, was at one point holding over 4,000 after a surge of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. However the centre has been emptied recently with asylum seekers moved on by the Home Office to hotels around the country.

Mark Harper, transport secretary, said the UK Health Security Agency had been working closely with the NHS to ensure those struck with diphtheria at Manston received appropriate treatment and care.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jim Pickard

The decision means yet another delay to the policy, which has been on the statute book since 2014 and is judged by experts to be key to addressing the risk of an individual facing catastrophic care costs. It was last year readopted by Boris Johnson’s government as part of his much-vaunted claim to have “fixed” social care.

However, people familiar with discussions said prime minister Rishi Sunak had never favoured the policy while serving as Johnson’s chancellor.

Natasha Curry, deputy director of policy at the Nuffield Trust, a think-tank, pointed to the scale of the crisis in social care, where about 10 per cent of posts are vacant. She said a delay risked “losing the momentum that we’re building around potentially more significant reforms in the future to put social care on a more stable footing”.

Simon Bottery, senior fellow in social care at the King’s Fund, another think-tank, said the “huge concern is that if we do delay the cap . . . history tells us that there’s a real risk that a delay becomes essentially an abandonment”.

The Treasury declined to comment.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jim Pickard

Boris Johnson, her predecessor, unveiled a sweeping package of measures to curb the consumption of unhealthy food and drinks, although he retreated from several of his plans this year.

Under pressure from rightwing Tory MPs, Johnson delayed by a year certain proposals including a ban on buy-one-get-one-free deals and a prohibition of television adverts for unhealthy food and drinks before 9pm. They had been due to take effect next month.

But the Obesity Health Alliance, a campaign group seeking to reduce obesity, said it was “deeply concerned” about “reckless” plans to ditch the Johnson-era measures.

“This will not help the cost of living crisis in the short term, and in the long term would lead to serious consequences for our health, our economy and our NHS,” it added.

“Big multinational companies promote and advertise unhealthy food and drink to those on lower incomes, leading to increases in obesity, in inequalities, and in pressure on the NHS to treat the resulting poor health, such as cancers, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jim Pickard