Two points from this.
1. Recent UK council elections required photo id in order to vote, this was to avoid what seems to be non-existent voter fraud. A lot of people didn't vote as a result, but there were multiple reasons for that too.
Hopefully by the general election, this idea will be put on the back burner until it can be sorted out properly.
2. Local council / by-elections and national elections are a different thing.
3. People are just fed up