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Big Blunkett to “Fast Track” ID Cards

Well, I expected Big Blunkett to try and take advantage of the Madrid atrocity to pursue his own political ends. Even I didn’t expect him to do so this quickly or this blatantly.

The Sunday Times reports that a row has erupted in cabinet after Home Secretary David Blunkett attempted to change the agreed government position on compulsory ID Cards. According to the report, Blunkett is attempting to sneak in to the draft Bill a clause that will allow a rapid move towards compulsion. This move is bitterly opposed by Jack Straw, Alistair Darling, Paul Boateng and Patricia Hewitt.

Although the draft was apparently published “earlier this month”, it seems clear that Big Blunkett is relying on public fear after Madrid to cynically push through his pet scheme.

We need to remind people at every opportunity that Spain already has a national Identity Card system – and it did nothing to stop the Madrid bombings.

Cross-posted from Big Blunkett – Watching David Blunkett

4 comments to Big Blunkett to “Fast Track” ID Cards

  • You beat me to this post Trevor! 😀

  • Mark Ellott

    Oh, well, here we go again…. BB will use whatever excuse comes his way to push this through. It doesn’t help with polls that “show” 86% or whatever of the British population in favour – what question was posed to obtain that figure? The last time this was debated in public, (Michael Howard’s attempt in 1995/6) that figure dissipated once people really started thinking about the underlying issues. That isn’t happening yet.

  • Experian who conducted/paid for the poll mentioned in the Sunday Times article, are hardly a neutral source of information.

    Experian, like all the other couple of major Credit Reference Agencies, are lobbying to be granted preferential access to any centralised ID database, for their own commercial reasons (on behalf of their customers in the finance industry). They successfully lobbied to retain access to the full Electoral Roll, even after the creation of a cut down version for sale to direct marketers following the court case in Wakefield.

    By the way, the URL http://www.whiterose.samizdata.net/
    seems to be an older version (9th March) of the White Rose blog compared with this one http://whiterose.samizdata.net/

  • You are right to expose the Stalinist tactics of David Blunkett. This Society has already warned the Prime Minister that if he allows this Minister, who left education in the U.K. in such disarray, to introduce one more anti-freedom measure, he would suffer our implacable opposition.Originally we were not against I.D. cards but our research convinces us that they will prevent neither terrorism nor serious crime. The cost and the invasions of privacy far outweigh the highly dubious benefits and the whole scheme is driven by career politicians and bureaurats who are ever searching for ways to further enslave us.