ID card costs rise to £5.31bn

[Agent]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6642339.stm

So the passport system has been compromised more times than I can remember. Details are obviously not checked very well as my current passport has a different spelling of my name on it compared to my birth certificate.

We have seen a reporter getting a driving licence in David Blunkett's name (Im sure I don't need to remind people that unfortunately he is blind), and numerous other pranks done on the system by reporters time and time again.

So the government plan to introduce another ID system. We already know the governments track record with computer projects. Not on time, Over budget and its purpose is often changed to meet what it actually does, and not what it was intended to.

Here is an idea - lets start by fixing the existing ones.

Seems like a huge waste of money to me.

[BUFF]

Seems like a huge waste of money to me.

I agree

[dangel]

+1 to that. Maybe we should start a government poll so they can ignore our collective hatred of the idea officially?

[G4Z]

Love how the delayed this info until the day of Tony's resignation.

[SilentDeath]

I thought this idea had been unofficially scrapped, since almost noone, incliduing those in parliment actually belive its a good idea?

how far are we going to let them go with these stupid ideas? somone important needs to start putting a lot of pressure on them to drop it.

Currently I think labour could pass any law it wanted. Britain really needs some real democracy - we should be able to do a proper vote on issues like this, where unlike elections, every ballot paper is counted (rather than some % counted and the rest binned due to being theroetically insignificant)

[iranu]

Gotta love the old spin. A good day to bury bad news. The sad thing is that each and everyone of us pays for this.

Funny how Phoney. B. Liar is going to leave government on Vetran's Day where the news of his departure will drown out any discord among our armed forces.

Reminds me of the Harry Enfield sketch with the dapper bloke who sells crap at inflated prices to rich city wives - the shop is called "I saw you coming".

[Mama Sumae]

Love how the delayed this info until the day of Tony's resignation.

Checkmate my friend.

Someone once said democracy isnt a good governmental system, only the best of the worse.

[G4Z]

Winston Churchill said that.

He is correct, however I would say that our system of government has never been a real democracy anyway.

[Saracen]

Winston Churchill said that.

He is correct, however I would say that our system of government has never been a real democracy anyway.

Another Churchillian aphorism ....

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

[rootjuiceUK]

Labour are the worst liars of all!! Did they not pledge in their 2005 Election manifesto that the cards, and the national identity register containing people's names, addresses, fingerprints and other information, would be 'on a voluntary basis'.

[vmong]

Come to think of it, the world we live in is more and more like big brother. i am sick of people knowing too much information about me and i hate it that the government can have so much power and take all our taxes to pay for nonsense like this!

[Saracen]

Labour are the worst liars of all!! Did they not pledge in their 2005 Election manifesto that the cards, and the national identity register containing people's names, addresses, fingerprints and other information, would be 'on a voluntary basis'.

Nope .... they said it would be voluntary initially.

That's political code speak for "but then it'll become compulsory, but we don't want to say that just yet".


I resurrect this old-ish thread just to point out, in case people hadn't noticed, that the ID Card Act is now law (30 March 2006), and that the procurement process for the infrastructure to provide the Register database capability has started.

ID cards are coming, whether the population like it not and, depending on which poll you look at, a significant percentage don't.

It will be compulsory for all residents to have a card. Not to carry it, but to have it.

Oh, and a cracking little detail .... some offences (and there's a fair few, like not notifying the ID card people of a change of address, etc) carry sentences of up to two years in jail. But get this .... several of the offences can, on summary conviction (i.e. magistrates court, not High Court trial) get you a 12 months jail sentence if you live in England or Wales, but only 6 months if you live in Scotland or NI.

I mean, WTF????

What on EARTH is the rationale for that nasty little piece of discrimination?

[Lucio]

That discrimination is simple, there's different sentancing capabilities granted to the magistrate's court in England and Wales that never made it through the Scottish Parlement or NI Assembly.

I don't mind the idea of ID cards, what I object to is that you still have to continue to have a seperate passport & driving license! If they'd simply cut down on the beauracracy when they designed this and ensured the scheme served a purpose other than "combating terrorism"

[G4Z]

I for one will be taking a stand and refusing to get one, my passport is good for 10 years so I can at least leave the country. There is no way I will be forced to buy an ID card.

[fat jez]

I still don't get why we need a new ID card scheme, I mean, we already have photographic ID on our driver's license. Extend those to everybody and add any extra data needed. Why should I carry two pieces of ID with my name, address, DOB, photo, etc?

Cheers,
Stephen

[Fabula]

Any why is it costing so much?
In Spain they have national identity cards. They cost E6.70 (less than £5) every 5 years. They have got photos and biometric data on like fingerprints.
if Spain can do it, why can't we?