BORIS Johnson’s administration has been urged by Labour to drop its “Trumpian tactics” to “rig democracy” with plans for voters to have to show ID before casting ballots at elections.

Labour said the proposals – due to be set out in today’s Elections Bill – are “undemocratic” and could lock millions of people out of democracy.

With the Government facing a Supreme Court challenge over their voter ID pilots – a case Labour said will not be heard until January – shadow ministers have warned that the Government could be forcing a potentially unlawful policy through Parliament.

Senior Conservatives and civil society groups have also raised concerns about the proposals.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis told The Independent there was “no evidence that ... there is a problem with voter fraud at polling stations”.

At the last General Election in 2019, 595 cases of alleged electoral fraud were investigated by police, according to the Electoral Commission.

Four led to a conviction and two people were given a police caution, and the commission said: “The UK has low levels of proven electoral fraud.”

Organisations including the Electoral Reform Society, Stonewall, Liberty, Operation Black Vote and the National Union of Students have called for a rethink of the voter ID scheme.

They said the plans could cost £20 million per General Election and 3.5 million people currently lack photographic ID.

Shadow democracy minister Cat Smith accused the Tories of attempting to use the “cover of the pandemic to threaten British democracy” and called for the plans to be stopped.

“Voter ID is a total waste of taxpayers’ money, set to cost millions of pounds at every election, and yet the Government apparently can’t afford to give our nurses a pay rise,” said Smith.

“Voting is safe and secure in Britain. Ministers should be promoting confidence in our elections instead of spreading baseless scare stories.”