U.K. May Ask RBS, Lloyds to Subsidize Identity Cards
Kitty Donaldson writes in US magazine Business Week:
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government may ask U.K. banks and supermarkets to subsidize its national identity-card program, paying for documents for poorer customers to attract business.
Home Office minister Meg Hillier said companies might offer to buy the 30-pound ($46) cards for people who wouldn’t pay for them otherwise. She named Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc, both part state-owned, as candidates.
“I am keen to hear from business,” she said in an interview in London late yesterday. “Banks do give incentives to people to open bank accounts. If they are doing that for some clients, would they think of doing that for other groups? Over a lifetime they do make money out of people.”
March 17th, 2010 at 18:14
In that article Meg Hillier says that ID cards could replace bus passes for the over 60s and be used in supermarkets to prove age for those buying booze (until, that is, New Prohibition is introduced): a far cry from preventing terrorism and the other grand objectives New Labour previously said the NIR and ID cards would achieve. The NIR and ID cards policy has become a farce; it’s a policy which, so far, has failed to find a role. Ridiculous.
March 18th, 2010 at 19:45
Please everyone: go to this article and post a comment; Meg may be reading the comments … and weeping.
http://www.progressives.org.uk/articles/article.asp?a=5562