MICHAEL Gove struggled to justify voter ID laws which have been described as a “brazen attack on democracy”.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities could not reveal figures which he claimed proved identification measures would not disenfranchise voters.

The Government will introduce a system of identification checks at polling stations in UK elections.

READ MORE: UK urged to scrap controversial voter ID plans by Tory-led committee

Tory MP William Wragg, the chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC), asked Gove to reveal the criteria by which the Government decided the policy would not bar people from voting.

Gove – also the minister for intergovernmental relations – squirmed and said he would “labour even more intensively in the vineyard” to make the data public.

But Wragg hit back saying: “It shouldn’t require too much labour if it’s readily available because you made a decision based on it.”

He asked the minister if he would have to “come up with” the figures – suggesting the Government pushed ahead with the plans against the evidence.

Gove replied: “I know it is the case the overwhelming majority of people can easily access voter ID.

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“There are many people who would think when you’re doing something as important as voting we should know who you are.

“When it comes to judgments about how we back up this policy, we are an open book; whatever we’ve done, we will share with you.”

Responding to an accusation from SNP MP Ronnie Cowan that the policy would stop people from voting, the minister said he couldn’t “see any problem” with the measure.

Cowan (below) told The National: "The facts and the research shows that voter ID will result in fewer people voting.

The National: Ronnie Cowan

"We should be doing everything we can to expand the electoral franchise if we want a truly representational democracy.

"There is no evidence that voter ID does that and the UK Government that there is a problem with voter personation just doesn’t stack up when you look at the numbers."

He added charities such as Age UK, the Electoral Reform Society, and the Runnymeade Trust have all criticised the introduction of voter ID cards.

Gove claimed there were currently “no barriers to any citizen from exercising their democratic rights”.

But opponents of the bill have raised concerns the controversial Elections Bill has done just this. 

Dr Nick McKerrell, senior lecturer in law at Glasgow Caledonian University, told The National last year: “I think the agenda is to make it more complicated to vote.”

It passed the Commons in January and will now be debated in the House of Lords.

Other parts of the bill would give Downing Street more power over the independent elections watchdog.

READ MORE: These Scottish Tory MPs voted to introduce Voter ID at elections

PACAC members – the majority of whom are Conservatives – called on the Government to ditch the bill late last year.

The Electoral Commission has recommended since 2014 the rest of the UK takes up photographic ID for elections. 

It is already in place in Northern Ireland, where the commission said it has found little evidence it affects voter turnout .