Hundreds of Nottinghamshire people failed to cast a vote after being turned away at the May 4 local elections because of a new voter ID law.

The polls were the first in the country where people had to, by law, bring along an accepted form of ID to cast their ballots.

The Government said the new rule was introduced to clamp down on voter fraud. Critics argued it could unfairly exclude some people from voting.

Accepted ID included a passport or driving licence.

People could also apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate.

The Electoral Commission says it will be releasing a report into the new system in June, with a full, comprehensive report due out a few months later in September.

However the impact of the new law has now been made clear in the city and wider county, with all councils having confirmed how many voters were turned away on the day having initially attempted to cast their ballot.

The new law was criticised ahead of the elections, including by Nottingham City Council's leader, Cllr David Mellen (Lab), who said he feared it would prove a "difficulty" for some voters.

Following the election, former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con) suggested the Conservative Party had introduced the law to boost their chances, but ultimately admitted it made it harder for some of the party's own voters to cast their ballots.

In Ashfield, the total number of polling station electors who applied for, but were not issued with a ballot paper initially was 106, equating to 0.6 per cent of the electorate.

The total number of polling station electors who later returned with accepted ID and were issued with a ballot paper was 51.

So 55 people, or 0.3 per cent, were unable to, or chose, not to vote.

Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), leader of Ashfield District Council, said: "Voter ID has been a costly, failed experiment.

"We always said that this amounted to voter suppression by the Tories.

"The fact that 55 residents lost their democratic right to vote is gerrymandering.

"The Tories only won two seats in the whole district by a total of 55 votes. That was the whole reason this was introduced countrywide .

"Now, Jacob Rees-Mogg has admitted it was exactly that. This should shame the Government. We are calling for Voter ID to be scrapped."