The Lords gave the attempted abolition of the Common Travel Area a welcome beating. So you still don't need a passport to leave the Isle of Man or Channel Islands either, much to the UK Borders Agency chagrin. (Still the government got customs officers under departmental control, and all the Excise powers of peremptory arrest, property seizure, writs of assistance and so forth for the Home Secretary's appointees, so it is not all good.)

Fortunately the Home Office can't tell Mr Adams, or anyone else holding another EU citizenship, to get a UK ID card until they have made the scheme directly compulsory for all British citizens, and there are quite a few Irish (probably including Mr Adams) who wouldn't quietly accept the equal slavery of going on a British Government population register.

I have therefore for years advised anyone British who is entitled to an Irish passport (which certainly includes Dr Paisley) to take up the option as a contribution to scuppering the scheme. There are millions on the mainland with one Irish grandparent, which suffices, and it seems unlikely HMG would allow the Home Office to reopen the civil war in Ulster in order to establish its precious national register.

Of course the advice to the British also goes for anyone else living in Britain or who wishes to do so and can claim an Irish heritage. (Scope for a European Free State Project?)

Nice quotation!

Guy,

I'm not sure a country that's passing legislation like this(Link) is a good candidate for a free state project.

Hmmm. When I get home from my travels next month, I will have to mention this over a few beers in my West Belfast local. I do not suspect the idea of a British ID card would be very generally of interest to those in the Gaellic speaking crowd.

Perhaps we could dust off the old slogan that used to be on the banner atop City Hall: "Belfast says No" :-)

It would be welcome, Dale. I fear nationalists and republicans may have cut themselves off from Westminster too effectively to have followed Whitehall manoevring on this issue (including, two or three years back, signs of leaning on the Irish government to introduce its own compatible scheme in parallel). I've not heard a peep from them, though there might easily have been unreported over here.

The DUP on the other hand, has seen the spider, and has been the most reliable NO2ID party in the Commons, delivering all 9 votes in every division.

Guy,

I am one of those who acquired an Irish passport for myself and my children and have, whenever I've commented on this appalling scheme, suggested that others do this. I've not heard that the Irish government will also introduce a similar scheme but in any case the Irish are far too broke to spend money on any such nonsense.

Perhaps No2ID could advertise the Irish option more widely - there must be huge numbers of people in the UK with one Irish grandparent.

The key to scuppering the ID card scheme is Northern Ireland.

Unionists will go absolutely crazy at being told that they need an ID card to visit their own country (even just to visit Scotland, a place that very many unionists have close links to) and nationalists will never, ever accept a British population/ID control database. It's the perfect combination for anti-ID sentiment.

They really can't win on this one unless they want the Troubles back again. I was there recently and there were tensions afoot there already with tit-for-tat attacks. The British government has spent years of its time buying both sides off with obscene inducements, financial and otherwise. Do they really want to start the whole bloody thing up again? There are a lot of potentially very violent and disaffected young people from both sides over there.

Also, what is the Ulster Unionist position on ID cards? I presume that has changed now they have joined up with the Conservatives?

In the context of this discussion, a cheering note from Hansard:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90721w0010.htm#09072149001344

Asked by Lord Kilclooney

To ask Her Majesty's Government when the passport office was opened in Omagh, Co Tyrone; whether it is proposed to close that office; and in what way the existence of that office was made known to the local community. [HL5047]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The IPS interview office in Omagh opened on 12 December 2007. At the time of opening it was one of a network of 68 offices across the United Kingdom that were designed to undertake passport interviews for first-time adult passport applicants.

Customer demand at this office has been much lower than anticipated. After due consideration, we have taken the decision to close a number of offices in order to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations. The last date on which Omagh will be offering appointments is 24 August 2009 and the office will be vacated shortly after this date.

We have not actively promoted the location of the office in the community, because the office is for pre-arranged appointments only and delivers no other passport services. However, when calling our call centre, customers are offered the office closest to their home or work. Press releases were issued to local media when the offices opened and the address of all sites is on the Directgov website.