Lordy Lordy!
March 6th, 2006
MPs overturned previous Lords defeats on the ID Cards Bill
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Government plans to make all passport applicants also have an ID card have been defeated in the Lords.Peers voted by a majority of 61 to overturn the proposal – backed by MPs last month – for a second time.
Opposition peers say the plans break the government’s promise that ID cards will initially be voluntary.
…
The UK and other countries must introduce biometric passports by October to remain part of the US visa waiver scheme, which makes travel to America easier.
[…]
On this latter point…
Remember: this is the government of my country changing my passport requirements – putting my biometric details on a database – at the request of another country.
And will that country get access to that database when some British mug wants to enter The Land Of The Free?
So obviously, if I put on my passport application that I don’t want to travel to the USA, or that I don’t mind getting a visa, I can opt out of having a biometric passport.
N’est pas?
No, me neither.
Al Quaida strikes again!
Update:
Clunk vows to continue ID battle
“I hope the Lords will recognise that this manifesto commitment, voted through by the elected chamber, should be respected,” Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
[…]
OK. And the manifesto commitment is (was)…
On page 52 of its 111 pages, under the heading “Strong and Secure Borders”, the Labour 2005 manifesto said:
“We will introduce ID cards, including biometric data like fingerprints, backed up by a national register and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports“.
[…] From David Davis.
As one Lord put it last night, and as this site has said recently…
[Lord Phillips of Sudbury, a Liberal Democrat, said] … describing the ID card scheme as voluntary was stretching the English language to breaking point. He went on: “It’s not often it’s left to the opposition to make sure the government honours its manifesto pledges.”