Stealth Taxes and ID Cards
This is the ID Cards Bill
Anyone who thinks they support the legislation should read the bill. This is intended over time to apply to everyone over the age of 16 in the UK except:
a) Those who are in the country for less than 3 months
b) Those who have no right to stay in the UK
The government's argument for it is that:
"Ministers say the cards can help tackle terrorism, make national borders more secure, and prevent abuse of benefits and public services. "
On Terrorism:
Spain has compulsory ID cards, but that did not prevent the Madrid Bombing.
On Making Borders More Secure:
People don't have to have ID cards to pass through the borders and can always claim they have been here less than 3 months. Asylum Seekers generally won't have to register.
On preventing the abuse of benefits:
1 in 20 of cases of benefits fraud could be affected by this leaving 95% unaffected. More effective work on National Insurance could deal with this.
It is not ID Cards, but a register
The reality about the scheme is that it is not about ID cards, but instead about another national ID register. This is a register that the law-abiding people will have to work with. Criminals will be able to ignore it with impunity.
This means new offences for you
If you don't register they government will fine you £2,500
If you forget to tell the government when you move home they government will fine you £1,000
If you don't turn up to be photographed they will fine you £2,500
If you don't allow the government to take "biometrics" they will fine you £2,500
If you don't tell the government if your card is lost, stolen or damaged the government will prosecute you.
[check it out in the bill cited above]
Although the bill itself is not about cards so much as a national identity register, the truth is that it is about the General Election and political posturing. Rather than govern the country properly the government are posturing that they are "tough on crime".
Making law abiding people follow more unnecessary laws is not being "tough on crime".
The cost of £5,000,000,000 would be far better spent on law enforcement. In the mean time the government are funding schemes which teach graffiti artists to be better at doing graffiti. Is that "tough on crime"?
We already have the National Insurance register, Health Service register and DVLC. I have no problem having a photographic Driving Licence and would have no problem having photographic provisional licenses. The National Identity Register is about changing the balance of power between the individual and the government - not for the security of the individual, but for the convenience of the government and because Tony thinks it is popular.
Comments