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ID cards: the truth
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MPs to vote again on ID cards next weekURGENT! The House of Commons will vote on the Lords' amendments to the Identity Cards Bill this Monday (13th Feb). Please contact your MP now via http://www.writetothem.com and ask them to vote against the Bill or at the very least support the Lords' amendments, all of which only strengthen the democratic accountability of the legislation. Ask everyone you know to do the same! Nearly all Merseyside Labour MPs have voted for Identity Cards at previous Readings, so it is especially important to lobby them - they will being briefed with misleading Home Office spin Spyblog links to & critiques the letter that Home Office Minister Andy Burnham has circulated to Labour MPs - http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/2006/02/no2id_lobby_against_the_identi.htm LORDS' AMENDMENTS include:- requiring a full report on costs & benefits of the scheme before the legislation goes ahead (the Government refuses, saying they wouldn't get 'value for money' from private sector bidders for ID contracts if they released the figures!) - removing the requirement to register for an ID card when applying for a passport. (ID registration is supposed to be voluntary to start with, but by linking it in to passports the Government would make it practically compulsory for anyone who needed to get a passport). - requiring a full new Act of Parliament before ID cards can be made compulsory - previously the Bill allowed for introducing compulsion via secondary legislation, which could be nodded through without proper Parliamentary scrutiny. - limiting the power to demand ID to only those 'who reasonably require proof' of identity - without this the legislation left it open for anyone to require to see your ID card. - limiting the scheme to "preventing illegal or fraudulent access to public services" instead of the catch-all "securing the efficient and effective provision of public services!" - so not having an ID card should not deprive you of access to public services. |
NO2ID campaign Defy ID network |
