Millions set to lose voice in local elections

Just 3% of people without v oter ID will have applied for the g overnment's new card in time fo r May's local electio ns, figu res sug gest

And young people have been among the slowest to sign up The Tories rammed through new laws forcing voters to show photo ID at polling stations nationwide for the first time, despite there being no evidence of in-person voter fraud in the UK But around 2 million people are thought to lack acceptable ID And campaigners have accused the government of discriminating against young people by disallowing travel cards and student ID, while allowing pensioners ’ to use discount travel cards as identification

The government estimates the cost of providing ID to people who don't have any will cost taxpayers up to £230 million a year But just 20,000 people have so far signed up for a new government-issued card - at an average rate of just 608 per day, according to the government's new online dashboard If they continue at the same rate, only 60,215 people will have applied for a card before the deadline of April 25 - just 3% of the total n u m b e r w i t h o u t I D E l e c t i o n workers will be asked to keep tabs on how many people are turned away from polling stations in the l o c a l e l e c t i o n s o n M a y 4 f o r a report to be published later by the E l e c t o r a l C o m m i s s i o n A n d i t ’ s understood they will be allowed to use their ‘discretion’ on whether to allow people to vote with expired forms of ID

Sadiq Khan’s controversial Ulez plan may be blocked

Do w n i n g S t r e e t co u ld b l oc k Sadiq Khan’s decis ion to expan d L on d on ’ s ul t r a l o w - e m i s s i o n zone (Ulez ), i t has bee n re por ted train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs ”

This comes after a bogus psychiatrist who earned more than £1 million from the NHS She is now jailed for fraud

In 1995, Zholia Alemi faked a medical degree from New Zealand to register in the NHS and then landed jobs at several trusts

She worked with potentially v u l n e r a b l e p a t i e n t s a n d e a r n e d between £1million and £1 3million

The Ulez is currently limited t o t h e a r e a w i t h i n L o n d o n ’ s north and south circular roads but is due to be extended to cover the whole of the capital from August 29 when it will expand to border areas of Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey Drivers of vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards are charged a £12 50 daily fee for entering the zone Whitehall officials are now examining whether Mr Khan has exceeded his powers under the

Greater London Authority (GLA) Act of 1999

The Act gives the government the power to veto proposals by the mayor that are "inconsistent" with national transport policies and "detrimental" to areas outside Greater London However, the powers have never been used before

Leader of Hillingdon Council Ian Edwards said: “Ulez is the wrong solution in outer London as it will have negligible or nil impact on air quality but will cause significant social and economic harm to our residents We believe Sadiq Khan’s decision to i m p o s e t h i s s c h e m e o n o u t e r London boroughs is unlawful ”