YOU have to agree with Cllr John Walsh and share his concern about why Bolton Labour councillors were opposed to a pilot scheme which would require proof of eligibility to vote.

Equally concerning is the idea put forward by councillors that by introducing some form of ID some people would be ‘barred’ from voting, and that this would impact mainly on poorer people. The only people who would be barred from voting would be people trying to cheat or abuse the electoral system.

The kind of ID people require could be: passport, driving licence, utility bill, bank card, bank statement, pension document, NI card, NHS card, rail card, bus pass, employment documents, Inland revenue documents, or the local authority can confirm identification. Poverty, language, ethnicity, culture, disability etc do not bar any person from holding many of these documents.

Bolton’s councillors need to wander down the corridors from their committee rooms to the Hall of Memories and read up on the hundreds of local mainly working class men and women killed in wars to maintain our way of life and right to vote.

Female councillors in particular, regardless of party, should reflect on the horrendous treatment women went through in this country to get the vote. Women suspended their action to get the vote during World War 1 so that they could concentrate on war work to support the men at the front and only got the vote 10 years later.

Any hint that the electoral system may be open to abuse would be a betrayal of all of the men and women who fought for the right to vote. There were reports in London and Birmingham of people wandering around with ‘sack-loads’ of their community’s completed voting papers. We may as well be back in the days of Rotten Boroughs.

Why on earth any Bolton councillors, particularly female councillors, would oppose any measure to make sure that elections are not abused is bewildering.

Ron Shambley

Clough Avenue

Westhoughton