DOZENS of people were unable to vote in the recent Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election as they didn’t have the correct photo ID, figures show.

The fiercely fought contest saw the Tories hold onto the north London constituency by a narrow majority of 495, down from 7,210 at the 2019 general election.

Labour fell just 1 per cent behind the Tories.

The contest on July 20 was one of the first parliamentary by-elections in England where voters had to show identification before they were allowed to cast a ballot.

A total of 255 people were initially turned away from polling stations in the constituency for not having the correct photo identification, data from Hillingdon Council – which oversaw the election – found.

Of these, 173 came back later in the day with the correct ID, while 82 did not return, meaning that around 0.3 per cent of voters who intended to cast a ballot could not do so.

Others may have stayed away entirely knowing they did not have the right ID.

Data for the by-elections in Selby and Ainsty, as well as Somerton and Frome, which took place on the same day, is not yet available.