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ID Cards - please excuse the link-dump:

Spy Blog - The final vote on the Identity Cards Bill 2005 - Ayes 301 (including the Conservative front bench) Noes 84
NO2ID - ID Cards bill passes
BSSC - Official: It's Compulsory
Perfect.co.uk - Anyone who opts out is foolish
BlairWatch - ID cards - now the lunacy is unleashed
Spy Blog - Identity Cards Bill betrayal in the House of Lords
NO2ID - Lords 29th March 2006, 17:00: Conservative treachery
Chicken Yoghurt - Our list of allies grows thin
Make My Vote Count - Lord have mercy
A great letter from yesterday's Indy: The Labour manifesto commitment on ID cards was: "We will introduce ID cards ... backed up by a national database and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports". The present Bill, however, would compel people to apply for an ID card when they renew their passport. In their attempts to link the Bill to the manifesto, the Government have come up with some shocking statements, such as "passports are voluntary documents", "applying for a passport is matter of free will" and "this is not compulsion by stealth". Far from blocking the Government's manifesto pledge, as ministers claim (report, 29 March), the Lords have consistently attempted to amend the Bill to make it consistent with the manifesto. It is the Government's heavily-whipped majority in the Commons which is being obstinate and unreasonable here, in refusing to accept any amendment whatsoever to the Bill. The Identity Cards Bill is an illiberal, arrogant, unnecessary piece of legislation. It grants enormous powers to the Home Secretary: but we are expected to believe the Government's assurances that these powers will be used reasonably. The Government's behaviour in attempting to railroad this Bill through shows what value we should place on these assurances.

Bloggerheads (June 15 2005): (T)he Act gave ministers the power to draw up an exclusion zone anywhere up to one kilometre from the Palace of Westminster. The map of the zone reveals Home Secretary Charles Clarke has used his new power to the full extent. To. The. Full. Extent. Remember that the next time someone speaks reassuringly about ID cards.

And now, a few words from the Sun, the only newspaper that continues to back ID cards, which laughingly begins by downplaying their role as the Downing Street Echo these past 9 years...

The Scum - Good ID: Charles Clarke often catches it in the neck over crime and illegal immigration - usually from The Sun. But the Home Secretary is entitled to be pleased after a breakthrough in the fight against both. The marathon battle over ID cards ended yesterday as the bill became law. There may be genuine fears about a scheme which, despite government denials, will eventually be compulsory. But whatever detractors claim, ID cards will help the fight against terror and organised crime. And by the time it's up and running, every major country in the world will be following suit. We may even be able to stop evil sadists like Latvian murderer Viktor Dembovskis getting into the country.

UPDATE - Silicon.com - New ID cards agency set up after Queen approves bill: The government has wasted no time in starting work on the controversial ID card scheme after the bill became law this week, and has set up a new agency that will be tasked with introducing ID cards... Home Secretary Charles Clarke has already announced that the Labour government will make the scheme compulsory if it wins the next general election and a new agency to issue passports and ID cards has already been set up.

Posted by Manic on March 31, 2006 9:18 AM in the category The War on Stupid

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