Tony Blair to renew push for ID cards.

Following the recent moves by USA insisting on biometrics passports after 30.09.06 and further that even Visa waiver program countries must have biometric passports, Tony Blair has today said the Gov will press on with introducing biometric ID cards.

COUNTRIES IN THE US WAIVER PROGRAMME
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

news.bbc.co.uk...

Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he will push on with ID cards - insisting that as with CCTV and DNA the issue is one of "modernity" not civil liberties.
An "action plan" would be published by the Home Office in December to "explore the benefits" people could get from ID cards in 10 years' time, he said.

He told his monthly news briefing all non-EU nationals will need them to work or access public services from 2008.

But he also confirmed the timetable for Britons' cards has slipped to 2009.

Mr Blair said ID cards would become compulsory first for non-EU overseas residents who come to Britain for more than three months.

They would help tackle illegal immigration, terrorism and identity fraud, while also protecting the vulnerable and the solving of crimes, he said.

Mr Blair dismissed critics of the scheme's cost, insisting the project was on budget.

He said biometric passports had to be introduced anyway and they made up 70% of the cost of ID cards.

- The scheme certainly has it's critics
(although it has to be said that few of them seem to want to comment or even face up to the fact that biometric passports are here to stay - due to external international pressures - no matter what comments they might make on the ID cards themselves).

The Tories and Lib Dems oppose ID cards - which are not due to become compulsory until at least 2010 - and say they would scrap them if they got into power.

news.bbc.co.uk...



[edit on 6-11-2006 by sminkeypinkey]

Roundish male organs to this tony,
The whole idea sucks.
You just watch that ID database crash.
Especially when all the people against the idea all apply for freedom of information/data protection requests at the same time.
This is the same as the soviet internal passport system.Evil.
How can we reach a state where all are treated like criminals and go along with it.
Lining up to give fingerprints,Retina scans and worse: DNA?
to a failed government who gets its way through lies,secret conspiracy and fake wars...
Who
"disagrees with the death penalty even for Saddam"and yet fully endorses the collective death penalty of innocent children through foriegn policy.
Personally,I can`t go along with this.
Its against the very core of freedom.




[edit on 7-11-2006 by Silcone Synapse]