Britain to scrap unpopular ID card program‎

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, May 27, 2010 12:16 EST
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LONDON — The new coalition government is to scrap a national identity card scheme introduced by former prime minister Gordon Brown’s administration, it announced Thursday.

The scheme will be abolished within 100 days under legislation presented by Home Secretary Theresa May, the first bill to be introduced to parliament by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government.

The move, which will invalidate cards that have already been issued on a voluntary basis, should save 86 million pounds over the next four years.

The scheme was in the process of being introduced when the new government took power this month. People who paid 30 pounds each for the card will no longer be able to use them to prove their identity or travel in Europe.

The expected new legislation “is the first step of many that this government is taking to reduce the control of the state over decent, law-abiding people and hand power back to them,” said May.

“With swift parliamentary approval, we aim to consign identity cards and the intrusive ID card scheme to history within 100 days,” she said.

Cameron’s Conservatives, who forged a coalition with the Liberal Democrats after the general election left no single party with an absolute majority, had always said they would scrap ID cards.

Brown’s Labour government had pushed through the scheme, arguing that they were a key aid for police in tackling crime and other threats, despite criticism from the opposition and lobby groups.

Civil rights group Liberty welcomed the move. “Liberty thanks the government for the bonfire of the ID cards and the junking of the National Identity Register,” said its chief Shami Chakrabarti.

“We have spent many years arguing that this grand folly would cost our freedom, privacy and race relations dearly and the public agreed.”

Liberty had argued the cards could have become an “internal passport” for immigrants.

“We hope that scrapping ID cards for foreign nationals will soon follow,” she added.

Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.
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  • 28093237420

    At least they have some sanity and common sense left in those empty fucking heads of theirs.

  • sandi2

    Way to go Britain!!! When is it our turn to get a coalition government that will turn this country back over to the people?

  • w00t

    I heard the same thing about Guantanamo once.

  • w00t

    Besides, London still sports the most insane Orwellian surveillance camera network in the world and police brutality and infogathering on activists is unrelenting.

  • sandi2

    Yeah, but the U.S. didn't throw out the old government in the last election. All we did was put a new face on old policies. I may be hoping against hope but I have to believe that the “New World Order” guys that staged a coup on the Western world these past decades are losing power quickly. I do believe that we will fix this mess peacefully and that this news is a sign that the good guys are winning.

  • yaright

    Labour is nothing more than the equivalent of the fear mongering shrub/dick cabal. Thank the politico gods that GB might be back on track to being a democracy again

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  • Benway for the Nova Police

    Funny how the “Conservatives” in Britain are farther left than the “liberal” Obimbo.

  • Benway for the Nova Police

    You seem to have forgotten about Hillary “Nukem” Clinton.

  • Benway for the Nova Police

    80% of which, it turns out, don't work.

  • enthous

    It would be nice if the new government would repeal the anti-social laws and the community boards which enforce them. Getting rid of ID cards gives a glimmer of hope, but Briton's technocracy will never end, not to mention their Orwellian police state.

  • GregH

    A national ID card is a smart approach to solving many problems simultaneously, especially identity theft, which has become a nightmare worldwide. America badly needs such a card, especially one used in connection with digital fingerprint technology. These cards are actually liberating, not coercive: They provide greater freedom of movement, more secure business transactions and more peace of mind. Those who decry these cards as Big Brother at work are simply being moronic. A well-designed ID system makes things easier for everyone.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/BXAID5YQT6YF5MQRPSMFHVT6TA sacha

    good for the UK fuck the NWO id cards
    but you liberals want it here see why i hate liberals

  • The Truth

    Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait.

    Britain did something to progress AWAY from police state tyranny? What the fuck bizarro world did I just walk into? I almost feel like smiling.

  • syanyde

    No Sacha, ID cards go against our liberty, the liberal side of me is opposed to ID cards.

  • Gray

    “The move …should save 86 million pounds over the next four years.

    … People who paid 30 pounds each for the card will no longer be able to use them to prove their identity or travel in Europe.”

    So, many Britains will need a passport instead (and those wo spent L30 in good faith should get one for free!). This won't save much money. It's a useless, ridiculous PR stunt. A simple law that makes ID cards within the UK VOLUNTARY instread of mandatory would have been much better. Cameron is a clown.

  • Gray

    Especially for those without a driver's license! Where's the huge outcry aginst those being mandatory for drivers???

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    The chief advocate in the US for the curséd “RealID” was always Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, you might recall, if you weren't too busy indulging your own version of his disease.

  • Derestanne

    I would like to see the US follow suit and immediately abandon the “Real I.D.” Inquisition going on here. I think “Real I.D.” is MUCH, MUCH WORSE than Arizona's new Illegal Immigrant Law! I am a 57 year old native born Pennsylvanian, with a spotless record and thanks to the extreme “show us your paperwork” demands of Real I.D., suddenly I may as well be a Career Felon from the Planet Neptune!

    Anyone else on board with me?

  • V for Victory

    The queue to the labor camps is forming on the left…..please move along……..

  • geminisoup

    Wakey, wakey! Ever heard of spousal abuse, friend? Now imagine that the abusive partner is a cop. Now imagine that you are the victim and that with his handy access to id databases, said villain is now able to locate you anywhere at any time. Restraining orders don't save lives. Privacy is part of self-defense. Oh yeah, and the fact that any covenient store clerk will have access to a reader for this information will actually make ID theft EASIER to perpetrate. Open your eyes!

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    Cheers

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    The sad truth is, the vast majority of people are too wrapped up in themselves and their lives to care about the loss of freedoms, the waste in government, or the death of our constitutional republic.

    Even those who have interest, are so mis-informed and brain washed from the corporate media machine that they simply squabble whatever left or right sided position the news they choose to watch tells them.

    We are becoming a nation void of individual thought. Convenience has taken the place of research. Corporations and chains have taken over.

    Never mind the fact that we have sent generations of our bravest young men and women to fight wars that make our citizens less secure, poorer, and hated around the world.

    This country has lost its way. I just can’t believe that socialism and communism ideas are now the main stream thought.

    What ever happened to self reliance?

    Whatever happened to keeping the money you earn from your efforts?

    Whatever happened to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? Why has it become the governments job to play Robin Hood?

    It makes me sick that my government takes money from me and then uses that money to go kill people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the other countries we are in “unofficially” .

    It makes me sick that my neighbors and acquaintances can’t even research the people they vote for. How many people even know the names of some of the people they vote for an hour later?

    Just vote the party line! Who has time to think for themselves, it just hurts to much. ouch! Brain Pain

    Just a load of crap. Why is it so hard to see that if Grandma was never taxed on her income, she would have enough money to buy her own medicine, or if you were not taxed on your income perhaps you could buy it for her.

    I know I went off topic a bit there but when the rant starts it can’t stop easily.

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    I have not yet given up on my country, though that day may come. I will fight as long as a fight is to be had. Unfortunately, they are winning, even as they are exposed. I feel we have a legitimate chance to make corrections in the coming years. I think within a decade we should know which way our country will go.

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