ID cards for immigrants to strengthen UK security
According to Politics.co.uk:
Foreign nationals will be forced to carry ID cards, as part of new measures to strengthen border controls, the Home Office announced today.
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said foreign nationals will need ID cards to work or claim benefits, restricting access to those qualified.
The measure was announced as part of a raft of measures to tighten security, alongside new visa controls and the increased use of biometric data.
“Compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals will be a vital buttress of our defences giving businesses and public services the choice to check whether someone is who they say they are,” Mr Byrne said.
However, human rights group Liberty has raised concerns the measures mark the first stage of a nationwide rollout of compulsory ID cards.
Furthermore, Liberty’s policy director Gareth Crossman warned: “When ethnic minorities are repeatedly targeted to present identification the end result is resentment and discontent.”
March 29th, 2007 at 19:31
We used to tell a joke at school about a country that decided to change from driving on the left to driving on the right. It was decided to phase the plan in. To start with, only lorries would drive on the right.
But that was a joke. And clearly recognised as such by eight year-olds in the playground (in 1962, since you ask).
There’s something wrong about a government with no sense of humour.
March 30th, 2007 at 04:16
“Immigration minister Liam Byrne said foreign nationals will need ID cards to work or claim benefits, restricting access to those qualified.”
This is essentially a lie. Although the government can make ID cards compulsory for non-EU citizens, it cannot make them mandatory for EU citizens unless it also makes them mandatory for UK citizens.
In the interim, UK citizens renewing their passports may be forced to get ID cards, but EU nationals will be completely exempt. You may be tagged and tracked like a criminal in your own country, and forced to report every time you move house, but your Polish plumber will still enjoy traditional British freedoms.
March 9th, 2008 at 06:57
I am an American who came to live in this country, legally over 20 years ago. I was brought over here by my English husband and we have had two children and lived a very happy, intergrated life. I have worked, payed taxes and never, never broke any laws or caused any forms of incitement or terrorist acts. What astounds me now is that “as an act of protecting against terrorism and illegal immigration” as I understand this new form of Identification is suppose to prevent, I am being singled out as one of the first who must comply to this new law. I already have a drivers lincense, Passport (with my residency stamp on it)and my work photo id badge. So why am I required to now get another form of Identification? To me it feels like the beginnings of Nazi-ism, will I be required to wear some form of star on my clothing in a few years time? And as far as this being a means of preventing terrorism? Wasn’t the July 7th bombings home grown Britians? Or have I got this all wrong?