ID cards will become compulsory in 2012 according to the current timetable. Their estimated cost has soared from £50 million to £5 billion. On top of that individuals will have to pay £30 for the privilege of getting a compulsory card and pay £30 to one of the biometric registration companies. So that is £60 each plus £20-30 per taxpayer. And we are supposed to be grateful for the government’s munificence.
I don’t want to be on a database which stores every tiny detail about me. I don’t trust the ability of the government to build a database which holds accurate information. I don’t trust the ability of the government to keep the data from being published accidentally. I don’t want information I give to one public authority to be shared with every other.
The government has not made the case for compulsory ID cards. It says that they will prevent terrorism. How? It says they will prevent ID fraud. How? It says they will prevent health and benefit tourism. How? It says they will not infringe our civil liberties. I call bullsh*t on all of it.
Why does the government need to have a record of my fingerprints, iris and DNA in order to prevent a Dewsbury teenager getting on a tube train with a homemade bomb? How will they prevent a Bulgarian from coming to the UK to get medical treatment on the NHS? What happens if someone finds a way into the database or clones my fingerprints?
There are some issues which transcend party politics. There are some things which can’t be easily undone if they turn out to be unpopular years down the line. The compulsory element of ID cards will come into force if Labour are in power in 2012. Forget whether you think David Cameron or Nick Clegg are worthy of being Prime Minister. It is absolutely imperative, on this single issue alone, that Gordon Brown and the Labour party are not in power in 2012.
These single issues show how weak our constitution is. A single ballot is not enough to base multiple changes on. When people vote in a general election they vote on their overall impression of the parties, not on individual issues. If the government wants to introduce sweeping changes to the nation it should hold a separate vote on the matter. ID cards is one of those situations. Compulsory ID cards will be in Labour’s next manifesto and a referendum on them will not.
As voters we only have one chance to have our say. Forget what other issues you think are important at the time, this one is more important than any other. Labour must not be allowed to force our registration. Both the Tories and the Lib Dems are against ID cards. Make your vote count.
Quite so. I’d urge you to support the NO2ID campaign; their site is good on scary things like the ‘interrogation centre’ nearest to you.
[pedant] lambasted ? [/pedant]
lampoon – a written attack ridiculing a person, group, or institution
lambast – to reprimand severely
both!
Better still.. Lamp them then Baste them.
Lampbaste “To punch unconscious and glaze with honey before cooking”
“I don’t want to be on a database which stores every tiny detail about me. I don’t trust the ability of the government to build a database which holds accurate information. I don’t trust the ability of the government to keep the data from being published accidentally. I don’t want information I give to one public authority to be shared with every other.”
I have a NO2ID logo in my front window. I rant about the Contact Point database to bemused and horrified parents of young children at every available opportunity.
i have an idea for you blue eyes…tell them when they can track and find bin laden…you will be on board for them to track you as well…till that time, you have no faith in their tracking ability…do you think it will go?
if you can’t tell,at the moment i am particularly disgusted with all government…and i don’t see a change soon, even if obama was elected…pfft
Lilith – quite right! One thing that worries me is that some people are so *ignorant* of what is going on around them – they will moan when something is made hard for them but not bother to work out why that is. People don’t seem to connect the effect they see with the cause.
Daisy – I agree that tracking individuals to make sure they aren’t eating too much cheese and chocolate isn’t possible but my objection isn’t based on whether they can do it properly – I would rather they didn’t want to try.
blue eyes…i understood that and was making a bit of a smart ass statement…not a specifically direct one…relating instead on which was more appropriate to do and how the government of both our countries often picks the one which loses more freedom for the people they are suppose to support
Ahh too smart for me Daisy, sorry!
A brilliant article offering much clarity to an idea I instinctively dislike.
Couple to this the fact that renewals will take place every 10 years and that the loss of one will be expensive.
As for those with teenagers, young adults … as usual parents will be paying for their carelessness too.
This is going to be expensive. THAT’s why Nu Lab like it.
Just wait until there is serious non-compliance.
It is one thing to say to a pollster that you think terrorists should be required to carry an ID card. It is another thing entirely when every home gets a letter telling them that their appointment to be fingerprinted and DNA-swabbed is on Thursday.
Exactly what is going to happen if half the population thinks “but I’m not a terrorist, so I don’t need to go”? Are we really going to devote the entirety of the Police and CPS resources to prosecuting them?
Because I for one am not going. Full stop. No.
EK – I think at heart the government likes to be seen to be doing something tough. They haven’t thought it through and now can’t back down. In these situations we should be very pleased that we can change our government, even if we can’t change it to something we genuinely like.
Patently – I think a lot of people are against them, but we are still a very law-abiding country. I cite the smoking ban: I have not seen a single person flouting it since it was introduced, even though many many people are against it. It isn’t even fear of being fined it’s just inbuilt acceptance that it is illegal. I suspect that many people will grit their teeth and get on with being registered.
They must be stopped!
I take your point, BE, but the examples of reluctant compliance so far have all been instances where we have been told not to do something.
Here, we are going to be told to find a registration place, make an appointment, get up, go out, give our fingerprints and DNA.
I reckon a third of the population will do it promptly, like the good little sheep they are. A third won’t be able to summon the wherewithal to get up of their sofas and switch Trisha off. Finally, the third of us who fund the whole sorry shebang will be too busy at work trying to earn the money to meet HMRC’s demands.
Interrogation centre? Eek!
Come the revolution, brother… and I think there will be a revolution if things don’t change. Blue Labour is not the answer.
Patently – unfortunately they are not that stupid.
Having the card will soon be a requirement for renewing your passport. Does your resistance go that far?
Maybe, but after that it will required for driving licences.
Then for opening a bank account.
Then for buying alcohol.
At what point will you cave in?
Because at some point, you will, and they know that.
Salami-slicing, boiling the frog, call it what you like, but most people just don’t care that much.
After all, if you’ve nothing to hide…