A local MP has come under fire for his criticism of new voting regulations.

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, called changes to the evidence needed to register “cynical”, and that it had been “rushed through by the Tories” ahead of next year’s London Mayoral elections.

The local Conservative group has criticised MP Lammy, accusing him of trying to make political gains from what they called “sensible new measures”.

Linda Kelly, a former Labour councillor and now Conservative Greater London Authority candidate for Enfield-Haringey, said: "The current system has been open to abuse for years and the government is right to sort it out now. Any political canvasser will have discovered people on the electoral roll who died or moved away years ago - or who are on the roll when they shouldn't be.

“Canvassers will also find many legitimate voters who have been left off the roll. Haringey's electoral services department seem to be doing a great job of sorting out the mess - finally empowered to do so by these great new government rules.

“The changes are not "cynical" as David Lammy claims - what is truly cynical is his attempt to make party political capital out of an attempt to clean up the electoral roll."

Justin Hinchcliffe, the Chairman of Tottenham Conservatives, said: "David Lammy has been caught red-handed saying one thing and doing another.

“In the run-up to the leadership election, Labour, including their local branch, required new members and supporters to provide evidence of who they were in order to stamp out fraud.

“David Lammy nostalgically recalls going to the polling station with his mother as a small child. Is he seriously suggestion that mothers' won't be able to take their kids with them when going to vote because we are strengthening registration security? If he is, you can charge him with scaremongering as well as hypocrisy."

The Conservatives said that Tottenham's local Labour branch sometimes required up to two forms of ID from people seeking to join up for their recent leadership election.

MP Lammy objected, as was reported by the Tottenham and Wood Green Independent, to the new Individual Electoral Registration (IER) system, which also requires two forms of personal identification. 

MP Lammy’s office have been contacted for comment.