Man admits Brexit referendum voter fraud live on LBC Radio call-in

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

A man has phoned into a radio station and admitted, live on air, that he had committed electoral fraud during the Brexit referendum.

Umi, from Hackney in London, told LBC he had used both his and his brother's vote on 23 June — committing the offence of personation.

The man said: "I was fired up for the Brexit vote so I did go for, like, cheating, and took my brother's vote and voted on his behalf. I'm serious."

He added: "He's registered to a different house. I wouldn't be able to do it in the same polling station. He wasn't in the country.

"You go in and you say, 'What's your name, yeah, that's my name,' door number, that's it."

It came during a discussion of an anti-voter fraud scheme due to be tested in the 2018 local elections.

Prosecutions for personation must be brought within 12 months of the alleged offence being committed.

Presenter Katie Hopkins, whose programme airs on Sundays, asked him: "Did you ask your brother, 'What would you like to vote for?' or did you just vote the way you fancied?"

Umi replied: "I voted for both Remain. But we didn't win."

Voters could soon be forced to present a form of ID – such as a driving licence or passport – at polling stations across Britain as part of a Government attempt to crack down on fraud.

The move for more stringent controls at the ballot box comes in response to a Government-commissioned report by Sir Eric Pickles, the Prime Minister’s “anti-corruption champion”. The report was released earlier this year and made 50 recommendations.

While there is already a requirement for the public in Northern Ireland to present photographic ID before they vote, no such procedures exist in the rest of Britain. Sir Eric suggested in his report that a driving licence, passport or utility bill “would not seem unreasonable to establish identity”.

Having agreed with this recommendation, the Government will now aim to introduce a pilot scheme at the local elections in May 2018.

The independent Electoral Commission has long advocated the introduction of ID at polling stations in Britain, previously warning that electoral fraud has the “potential to undermine confidence in the electoral system if not addressed”.

The electoral watchdog has estimated such a scheme would cost between £1.8m and £10.8m to implement.