What's the first thing the Conservative Gov do?

[Peikko 1,575]

The £5 billion national identity card scheme will be consigned to the scrapheap as a result of the new coalition Government, the Home Office confirmed today.

Axing the controversial scheme and associated identity databases were key manifesto commitments for both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Senior ministers must now choose how to withdraw several thousand cards already in circulation after individuals paid £30 and handed over personal information.

The majority have been handed to foreign nationals, but people in the north-west England, young people in London and airport workers were also able to apply.

Anyone holding a card can still use it for identification, banking and travel within Europe.

A message posted on the Identity and Passport Service website today urged anyone considering an application to wait for further announcements.

It said: "Both parties that now form the new Government stated in their manifestos that they will cancel identity cards and the National Identity Register. We will announce in due course how this will be achieved.

"Applications can continue to be made for ID cards but we would advise anyone thinking of applying to wait for further announcements.

"Until Parliament agrees otherwise, identity cards remain valid and as such can still be used as an identity document and for travel within Europe.

"We will update you with further information as soon as we have it."

Critics of the identity and passport scheme were likely to lash out at the enormous amount of money spent so far on the abortive project.

The Tories branded the scheme an expensive "white elephant" while the Liberal Democrats said Whitehall could not be trusted with the personal data.

Civil liberties campaigners said the cards would not be a "magic bullet" for crime and terrorism and instead threatened privacy, race relations and freedoms.

Labour ministers said identity cards and biometric passports would help prevent identity theft, illegal immigration and fight terrorism.

The National Identity Register, which underpins the scheme, went live in late 2009. More than 5,000 identity cards have been issued since the scheme began last year.

If Labour had won the election the scheme was likely to have gone live nationwide in 2011. It was expected to cost £5 billion over 10 years, with the former government insisting it would be self-funding.

Link

Personally, I'm well pleased

Edited May 12, 2010 by Madame Cleo

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Shouldn't they have cut taxes first?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Fantastic news -- a real score for civil liberties and privacy in the UK. I understand they will be doing a review of CCTV usage as well, and readdress the DNA database. My evil dragonlady ex-MIL is the one to blame for the expansion of the national DNA database; as former head of the FSS she pushed hard to keep innocent parties' details on file. If she had had her druthers, we all would have been compelled to give a sample of our DNA even if we had never committed a crime, been suspected of a crime, been a victim of crime, or had any dealings with the legal system.

I did see something in the press today that described Clegg and Cameron at their joint press conference today as looking like two characters from a Richard Curtis film.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

My evil dragonlady ex-MIL is the one to blame for the expansion of the national DNA database; as former head of the FSS she pushed hard to keep innocent parties' details on file. If she had had her druthers, we all would have been compelled to give a sample of our DNA even if we had never committed a crime, been suspected of a crime, been a victim of crime, or had any dealings with the legal system.

She'd fit in well in Arizona

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So far so good.

[Peikko 1,575]

I did see something in the press today that described Clegg and Cameron at their joint press conference today as looking like two characters from a Richard Curtis film.

They looked remarkably alike on the steps of Downing St

It's definitely a good start, after all, Cameron isn't Thatcher, and that's a good thing

[Heracles 417]

Is this really a Conservative party? They sound like more like clueless DH liberal yanks.

[Peikko 1,575]

BY, on civil liberties issues, you are so far to the right you are practically off the scale. Being a conservative does not necessarily mean you want a police state with citizens having no personal liberties at all.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

BY is VJ's own George Galloway.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

BY is VJ's own George Galloway.

I would love to send my former MIL to Arizona. Despite being English through and through, she has nearly black hair and rather swarthy skin (she claimed it was from a sailor from the Spanish Armada who had somehow evaded death on the seas, made it to Sheffield and begat her ancestors). She's a great one for "Don't you KNOW who I am?" Which of course would go down super with the local cops-cum-ICE deputies.

[Heracles 417]

BY, on civil liberties issues, you are so far to the right you are practically off the scale. Being a conservative does not necessarily mean you want a police state with citizens having no personal liberties at all.

What you consider freedom compared to what I consider freedom is a contrast of red to blue. I view safety and being able to live with the minimal chance of being a victim of crime as freedom. You evidently view being PC as freedom. But hey, this attitude has progressed the mother country quite far up the ranks, well the following ranks:

[Peikko 1,575]

Even the most conservative of Australian politicians would balk at your idea of civil liberties BY

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What exactly is to be drawn from those statistics when Britons are subject to more electronic and other surveillance than almost any other country?

We don't need compulsory ID cards, it's a waste of money at a time when the country is trying to stave off a huge financial crisis.

Stop trying to pretend that you know anything about Britain. You really don't have a clue.

[Dan J 277]

What you consider freedom compared to what I consider freedom is a contrast of red to blue. I view safety and being able to live with the minimal chance of being a victim of crime as freedom. You evidently view being PC as freedom. But hey, this attitude has progressed the mother country quite far up the ranks, well the following ranks:

Good thing to see all the money that the UK has spent on CCTV cameras has gone to good use, just look at them leading the chart.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Hmmm, the font in that graphic looks awfully familiar. Might that be from the Daily Mail?

I believe it has been shown that the drastic increase in the amount of CCTV image capture the average British resident is subject to on a daily basis has not resulted in any significant rise in public safety or crime detection.