A CONTROVERSIAL scheme, piloted in Hampshire, which required voters to show ID before casting their ballot "worked well", the elections watchdog has found.

Trials of a voter ID scheme were carried out at May's local elections in Gosport, as part of a government effort to cut down on voter fraud.

The government-led trial, which also took place in areas such as Swindon, Watford and Woking, will be extended at next year's local contests.

That's despite the scheme being described as "shambolic" by Labour and criticised by campaigners for electoral reform.

But in its assessment of the pilots, the Electoral Commission said: "Overall, the voter identification requirements trialled in May 2018 worked well.

"Nearly everyone in the five pilot scheme areas who went to vote in their polling station was able to show identification without difficulty.

"The number of people who did not vote because they couldn't show identification was very small."

But the watchdog called for a wider range of councils to be included in future pilots and acknowledged concerns from organisations including Mencap and the RNIB that "some groups of people may find it harder than others to show a passport, driving licence or travel card" as part of a photo ID scheme.

The commission also said there was "some limited evidence" from the pilots that "younger people and those who don't always vote were less likely to say that they would find it easy to show identification".

The report found:

- 0.6% of people tried to vote at their polling station but did not have the right identification and, while many of them came back with the right identification, 0.2% did not;

- Some 86% of voters said they were aware beforehand that they had to show identification to vote at their polling station;

- Some 79% of people said the requirement made no difference to whether or not they voted.

Craig Westwood, the Electoral Commission's director of communications and research, said: "From the experience of voters to the staff delivering the pilots, the overall picture from these pilots is a positive one.

"The next step should be to test the requirement for voter identification in areas with different demographics.

"It will be important to develop the evidence base about the impact of voter identification on different groups of people. No eligible elector should be prevented from voting because of voter identification requirements."

Constitution Minister Chloe Smith said: "The success of the voter ID pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure and voters were fully aware of the changes on polling day.

"We plan to continue to pilot ID at next year's local elections so we can explore further what works best for voters."

But shadow minister for voter engagement Cat Smith said: "The Government cannot justify their dangerous voter ID plans after what can only be described as a shambolic set of pilots.

"We know that voter ID has a disproportionate impact on older, poorer or ethnically diverse communities, yet none of the pilots' authorities have significant populations with these demographics.

"It is impossible to determine the true impact of voter ID as figures collected in polling stations did not capture voters who were put off from entering polling stations.

"Instead of piloting this flawed policy for the second time, the Government should abandon their undemocratic proposals as a matter of urgency."