In seven weeks' time, you should be able to vote in the local elections. I say 'should' because the Government has passed a law to stop you exercising your rights in the usual way.

It’s called Voter ID and it means that if you arrive at the polling station without officially approved photo identification, you’ll be turned away. You need to check now that you’ve got an acceptable form of ID. If not, you should either apply for a Voter Authority Certificate (you can do this online), or a postal vote (application available online but a printed form has to be posted to EDDC).

Please apply now, or you could be very frustrated at the beginning of May. You’re also in danger of helping the Conservatives pull off one of the most outrageous attacks on British democracy that a government has ever made. Their aim is quite simple - to stop enough young people, women and ethnic minorities, who are less likely to have photo ID and less likely to vote Tory than older males, from voting, so that they can cling to power.

Just to make sure, common forms of photo ID held by young people, like student and library cards, may not be accepted, while old people’s bus passes will. The government claims the scheme is to deal with voter fraud, but that’s a complete non-problem: just one voter out of 32 million was convicted after the 2019 election. Rather it’s a dirty trick, borrowed from Donald Trump’s Republican Party who have practiced what Americans call 'voter suppression' for decades.

The Tories are doing this because they’re increasingly desperate and know they’re unlikely to win fairly again after the mess they’ve made of everything. Indeed Simon Jupp, the MP for the East Devon constituency, announced last week that he was quitting the constituency, centred on Exmouth, at the next election, presumably because he thinks the Tories will lose it. Instead he’ll stand for the new Honiton & Sidmouth constituency, where he must feel he has a slight chance of hanging on.

I have news for Mr Jupp - many of us in his chosen new area were distinctly unimpressed by his vote against a legal duty for water companies to stop polluting our rivers and seas. He claimed this week that the water regulator has teeth, but as our current MP, Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat) commented, “If that is true, the Government permit them to be kept in a glass on the bedside table.” Let’s hope that Richard also stands for Honiton & Sidmouth next year!