Sunday, December 05, 2004

Reject ID Cards: Scare Tactics

If the current Identity Cards Bill is passed, remember that appealing against decisions involved is a crime. Well, not quite. Even though most of the monster fines - up to £2,500 a time if your card fails to swipe properly and is considered "damaged" - will be treated as a "civil penalty" rather like an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, it isn't any better. You can't get legal aid for civil cases. And if you dare to object to the New Poll Tax - Section 34(3) of the Bill gives David Blunkett the power to increase the fine for troublemakers like you.

What is the purpose of this? Or rather, can anyone tell me any other purpose than to scare the public off challenging decisions by the ID bureaucracy? Remember, the ID Cards Bill explicitly states that the Home Secretary has no obligation to correct false information on the National ID Database. If you have given yourself the right to hold falsehoods - potentially libellous ones - against all our names, objections would get in the way so. Dave's time is likely to be short, filled up with consultations with the Treasury Solicitor over who should pay for the latest billion pound cost overrun. So just whack those troublesome people with a threat of a million quid fine if they lose - most will run like hell.

This is now the basis of British governance. Vote Labour.

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