Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

NO2ID : ACTING NOW

Sheffielder | 12.12.2004 08:10 | Sheffield

An extract of the anti-ID campaign newsletter sent to supporters & campaigners by no2id.
Please act now.

Support us
Support us


+++ Lobby Your MP Now

The Identity Cards Bill is likely to get a Second Reading (the first stage of real debate in parliament) before Christmas. We urgently call on all supporters to contact their MPs, Councillors, AMs and MSPs to point out that ID Cards are NOT a popular measure, despite what the Government says. If you get a response then please pass on details of their position to our Parliamentary Liaison, Dave Walker ( dave@no2id.net).
List of MSPs
 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm
List of Ams
 http://www.wales.gov.uk/who/constit_e.htm
Fax Westminster MPs
 http://www.faxyourmp.com/

+++ Stop ID-cards and the database state

This is the latest email newsletter to keep you informed about the campaign against the Home Office's plans to fingerprint and track the entire population of Britain for its National Identity Register. As soon as practicable the NO2ID Newsletter will also be produced in printed form to let us reach people without email. Meanwhile, if you want to forward this email to friends or print and distribute hard copies, then we have no objections.

--------------------------------

++ More Hustle, More Bustle, Some Opposition
-------------------------------------------

+ ID Card Costs Double

The Financial Times reports that along with the Identity Cards Bill the Home Office has issued a cost-benefits analysis which estimates the scheme will cost £5.5bn over 10 years. The original estimate was it would cost between £1bn and £3bn. So costs have doubled before the scheme starts.

But it is not a maximum figure. And it does not include the cost of equipment such as the card readers that would be needed at hospitals, doctors surgeries, police stations, job centres etc. Yet another revised cost-benefit analysis is due early next year. Careful readers will note that benefits seem to be even more elusive than costs. See:
 http://news.ft.com/cms/s/fbc6527a-4276-11d9-8e3c-00000e2511c8.html


+ Blunkett Rushes Out ID Cards Bill

The government is clearly keen to push the ID Cards Bill through as quickly as possible. On Monday, 29th November, the Bill had its formal First Reading in the House of Commons.

It was presented by the Home Secretary at the start of a debate on the Home Affairs portion of the Queen's Speech. Whilst the debate was not specific to identity cards many members did raise the issue.

+ Opinion Poll Figures - Misrepresented Again

David Blunkett told the house that the government had been consulting on the issue of ID Cards for the last three years and repeated the tired old lie that "around 80 percent of the population are up for it and are on board".

It is two and a half years since the government began consulting on voluntary "Entitlement Cards". It was only from April to July of this year that they consulted on compulsory "Identity Cards", and the result of that consultation was 48% against and only 31% in favour.

The Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis MP, described the progress of the Bill as being, "marked by the avoidance of difficult questions at every turn - putting them off and taking them at some point later - so that people vote for something that is not compulsory yet, but which might be one day."

+ Tories' Five Tests For ID Cards

Mr Davis also spelt out the Tory party's approach to the Identity Cards Bill. These he laid out in a familiar format, as five tests:-
1. The legislation must clearly define the purpose of the cards.
2. Will identity cards effectively address the purposes that are laid out?
3. Is the Home Office capable of making the cards work?
4. When the Government has decided the purpose of ID cards, will they really be the most cost-effective way of tackling the problems?
5. Civil liberties - why should anyone trust this Government to treat the information it holds about them with respect and sensitivity?

+ Sidestepping Difficult Questions

Glenda Jackson MP told the Home Secretary that her constituency very much opposes ID Cards and asked, "What will be the inherent costs of that over and above the introduction of the cards?" She was told that such a question was not valid, that it had been dealt with through the consultation and the draft Bill. The Home Office has never released detailed figures of operating costs, citing commercial confidentiality as the reason.

The Home Secretary also failed to answer Simon Hughes MP's question, whether he accepted "that we should have minimal state interference, not creeping state interference?" Hughes expressed the view that "for a free-born British citizen who has not been convicted of any offence,
the presumption should be that the state does not intrude in their lives and hold information on them, rather than the opposite."

+ Australian Warning

Peter Lilley MP, compared ID cards to a long unsold house -- there is something wrong with its foundations. He had a warning for the Government, as he recollected Australia's failed attempt to introduce ID Cards: "It had even greater
support", he pointed out. But, "as it wound its way through the Australian Parliament and the upper House, the mood changed, and eventually ... 90 per cent of the Australian public were against it. The measure was defeated in the upper House and contributed to the defeat of the Australian Labour Government." A pattern he hoped to see repeated here.

+ Nothing To Hide, Nothing To Fear?

Many of us against ID Cards have tried to come up with strong counter-arguments to the constant "Nothing to hide, Nothing to fear," litany. One excellent rebuttal was put forward by Edward Garnier MP:-
"One might just as well say, 'If you're not going to do anything criminal, you can't object to being bound over to keep the peace..., you can't object to being subjected to a curfew order from 11 o'clock at night to 7 in the morning..., you can't object to being subjected to an order for bail..., you can't object to being subjected to a tagging
order.'"

Mr Garnier went on to say that the proposed scheme is an insidious move to reverse the burden of proof and to reverse the balance of power between the citizen and the state.

Sheffielder

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. No 2 ID is this the New Monopalise Resistance — Worried

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech