You’ve got to hand it to government ministers. They try to persistently sell an idea that they think may be popular with the public, but nobody believes them. One obvious example of this is their latest attempts to force through the controversial identity card scheme.
The latest, umpteenth rethink of the scheme, to be announced by Home Secretary Jackie Smith, will mean the scheme will be rolled out by stealth. Citizens who are not from the European Union will have to get one from later this year, while baggage handlers at airports (who?) will get theirs in 2009. Students will have to get theirs from 2010. The one concession from ministers is that the general population can either opt for a card or a biometric passport instead.
Why is the government so hell bent on introducing this damaging scheme? Haven’t they learned from the huge data loss scandals of recent months? What right do they have to intervene and interfere in our lives? The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, famously said that he would rather go to prison than wear an identity card. It’s time for us to stand firm and continue to oppose this oppressive and intrusive scheme!