ID Cards: ‘Creeping compulsion’ and grovelling MPs

YET ANOTHER threatened ‘backbench revolt’ on identity (ID) cards by
Labour MPs fizzled out on 13 February after some minor concessions
swayed most ‘rebels’.

ID cards could now be issued within three years. They won’t be
compulsory until 2013 but anybody renewing their passport from 2009 will
get a full ‘biometric’ passport combined with an ID card and their
details will be recorded on a national identity database.

This backdoor legislation has been labelled ‘creeping compulsion’,
although new legislation will need to be approved before the scheme is
made compulsory,

Government ministers claim these cards are essential to beat
terrorism but civil rights campaigners Liberty point out that they are
not a "magic bullet against fraudsters and terrorists." New
York had ID cards before the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Madrid had them
before the bomb attack on the rail system in March 2004.

And the cost could be enormous – the government estimate that full
biometric passport/ ID cards will cost £93 for a five-year card
compared to the present £51 for a ten-year passport but the fee has yet
to be set and the true cost may be hidden in extra charges. When the
card becomes compulsory, there will be fines for failing to have a card
or for forgetting to tell the authorities if your circumstances change.

People fear these cards will not only be used to increase harassment
of such groups as ethnic minorities but also to try to ration access to
services such as education and health. Meanwhile private companies will
make fortunes out of Europe’s largest public-sector computer project,
estimated officially to cost £5.8 billion.

Socialists will keep up the campaign against the threat of ID cards
and fight for abolition of the legislation.