You'd have to be "an imbecile – or a government minister" to believe the guff on ID cards

By PRSD, on Thursday, November 19, 2009

Exeter No2ID got in touch saying the Government has announced that residents of Greater Manchester will be able to apply for an ID card and registration on the National Identity Register from Monday, November 30. Could the introduction of the cards be far away in the more metropolitan parts of South Devon be far away?

The Home Office claims the cards will be secure, though similar cards issued to non-EU foreign nationals were recently cracked and cloned, and police admitted that printers until recently available in high street IT stores were able to produce replicas.

The prime selling point now offered is that they will be convenient for young people. But any application involves the individual ‘voluntarily’ joining the National Identity Register database, being fingerprinted, and becoming subject to all present and future regulations issued under the Identity Cards Act 2006.

Phil Booth, No2ID’s national coordinator, told the PRSD: “The Home Office line that ID cards are cheap and convenient is preposterous. Volunteer for a ‘£30′ ID card and as part of the package you get a government file for life. Once registered you have the obligation to keep a Whitehall database about you up-to-date, whatever it costs, for ever. To believe that is easier than the existing passport, let alone any of the officially endorsed proof-of-age cards that you can buy for a tenner, you would have to be an imbecile – or a government minister.”

• ID cards are a’coming! Will you volunteer for one? Comments below, please.