4 August 2005
Tony McNulty's admission that the Government has "oversold" the case for ID cards marks only another shift in tactics as far as NO2ID is concerned. The Home Office's compulsory state registration scheme is unchanged.
Phil Booth, NO2ID's National Coordinator said:
"'Oversold' is a euphemism for 'lied about'. Regardless of how the Government spins it, the scheme is designed for the benefit of the bureaucrat, not the citizen. What it means in practice is being summoned to an interview to be fingerprinted and prove to an official who you are; then helping compile and maintain a government dossier on yourself, for life, under threat of large fines. Poor Mr McNulty is now assigned to tell us that this is a convenience for the citizen, because all other excuses have failed.
"After all the drama about terrorism and fraud, heavy-handed whipping in the House, and the Prime Minister's personal endorsement as 'an idea whose time has come', the public is expected to believe that it is just Government being helpful, not a big deal after all. But a phoney reduction in the price of the card fools no-one: the billions that this scheme will cost is all our money - and the time it will waste is all our time - no matter what they charge for the card.
"Mr McNulty's attempt to 'come clean' doesn't change the fact the Home Office is still spending our money to pushing its deceptive ID plan on us. The Government is still complacently steamrollering through a piece of legislation that it admits is flawed, yet will change British life fundamentally. The case for ID Cards has been empty propaganda from the start. Now that is admitted, the only responsible and honourable course of action is to drop the Bill."
-ENDS-
Notes:
For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please contact Michael Parker (Press Officer, press.officer@no2id.net ) on 07773 376 166 or Phil Booth (National Coordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net ) on 07974 230 839.
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
Press: click here
