The ID Cards Bill is heading back to the House of Lords today. Of course, if Geoff (buff) Hoon had his way, this wholly undemocratic process that protects our democracy wouldn’t be necessary…
Early indications are that the peers will uphold their amendment requiring cards to be voluntary
But the Commons also insisted that anyone applying for a passport from 2008 should also be compelled to get an ID card and have their details recorded on a national database.The opposition parties insist that this is ‘backdoor compulsion’ and are likely to launch a fresh attempt to strike it from the legislation.
Presumably they use the standard English dictionary as opposed to the New(speak) Labour one. :dry:
Speaking on Sunday, Conservative leader David Cameron said ID cards would mean a “nightmare waste and shambles”.”It’s going to cost billions, it will curtail freedom and it will fail to protect us in these dangerous times,” he said.
“It’s a costly scheme, a plastic poll tax, a monument to the failure of big government and we will be the ones who have to tear it down.”
Yeeesss….:dry: I see the boy Cameron is falling for the same “dangerous times” rhetoric as saint Tone and the safety elephant. The Blitz was a dangerous time – get it into proportion, please. We’ve had one successful bombing and one failed one. The IRA campaign on the UK mainland was somewhat more successful and, let’s face it, more dangerous. But even then, we didn’t let it stop us going about our daily lives and we certainly didn’t concede our freedoms in the face of their threat. So it would be nice if the leader of the opposition could seize a little initiative and take the discussion away from the “fear of bad people” agenda that the government wants to maintain.
The newly elected LibDem leader, has something to say on the matter:
“Once Westminster was the cradle of democracy. Under this government it is becoming the graveyard of democracy,” he said.
As seems to be increasingly the case of late, it is the LibDems who make the most sense…
The Government has been defeated again over forcing people who want passports onto the NIR by 227-166.
Unless of course, by “dangerous times”, our Dave is referring to the assault on our liberties by the Executive, rather than by any terrorist nutters….
Longrider replies In which case, P-G, I would shake him firmly by the hand and agree vigorously. 😀
Longrider replies: Excellent news. I’ve been helping the kind man from BMW take the back end of my bike apart, so have been somewhat distracted…