[no2id-supporters] Government set to abandon ID Cards Bill until after election

[no2id-supporters-admin at no2id.net]

NO2ID looks to have achieved its first goal and has derailed the 
Identity Cards Bill after months of public and behind the scenes lobbying.

Phil Booth, NO2ID National Coordinator, said: "This is a great victory, 
although the fight goes on. We must continue to apply pressure until the 
Government abandons its plans altogether."

According to a report in The Independent, an unnamed Government Minister 
has said that the ID Cards Bill will not be pushed through the House of 
Lords before the end of Parliament and the General Election.

With only a handful of days, perhaps four or five, available for their 
Lordships to debate the Bill, it was always going to be tight, following 
the Conservative Party's withdrawal of support for the bill.

The Government can now temporarily back off from a Bill that, if it is 
debated, looks sure to be torn to pieces by a hostile House of Lords, 
currently engaged in performing a very public hatchet-job on the 
Prevention of Terrorism Bill. The Government is not keen to receive two 
bloody noses in quick succession.

The timing of the election is a problem for the Government, as it risks 
losing two major pieces of controversial legislation at the eleventh 
hour, only to have to restart them after the election. But ID card 
legislation is not going away - having already poured millions of pounds 
into research and campaigning over several years, the Home Office will 
not be too concerned with having to wait another few months until after 
a new government is returned.

This Government has made it clear that the agenda includes a succession 
of highly illiberal, controversial and divisive Bills, to be rammed 
through Parliament as quickly as possible, and this is not expected to 
change suddenly after May.

Although this is a victory in the short term if this Identity Cards Bill 
falls, the pressure, support and perseverance of NO2ID, its members and 
supporters will be even more vital when faced with a new, empty 
Parliamentary year, ready to be filled with new ID card legislation.

NO2ID
www.no2id.net