Identity Cards: yes or no?

[Papyrophile]

Gerard Darminin, French Home Secretary equivalent, has said that the UK is making itself a migrant target because we have no national officially issued ID card proving entitlement.

I, a very ordinary citizen, already have an NHS number issued at birth, and a National Insurance number sent to me at 16, neither of which has changed. I also have a passport number, due for renewal next year, a driver's license and a Government Gateway number for my occasional exchanges with officialdom.

Why would anyone who has nothing to hide from the authorities prefer not to hold an official proof of identity?

If we started having a serious conversation about identity cards theres no way the UK would consider one without biometric data (akin to the one that visa holders had to get).

The idea we would do it for £18 is laughable...

DD has just been to Greece, on arrival greeted with smiles and hellos, on her return, greeted by dogs & armed police, screaming "get into single file now!"
On the train back home, a poor woman whose railcard had expired a week earlier, was interviewed in front of all the passengers & given a notice to prosecute card, even though the guy doing all of this said "looks like a genuine mistake" She was in floods of tears, thought as the card said 16 to 25, it was valid until she was 25.

Maybe ID cards would be a mistake given our attitudes.

Until the UK accepts ID cards, it will have struggles with immigration. It's literally the only way, and the easiest, to solve the problem.

Yes, some of the numbers that have been suggested by people who are in favour seem rather unrealistic.

This is just not a good idea for our society. The British state can't be trusted either with the power or to run the system efficiently. And even if it could, ID cards won't do the things people want them to. The idea that it's going to solve illegal immigration, for example, as if countries with compulsory ID cards don't experience it, is completely laughable.

Back in 2006 the cost of issuing the compulsory ID card was reckoned to be in the region of £75 per head. This was to be paid by the recipient, and would be charged again should the need for a replacement card ever arise.

This is 20 years ago near enough. The idea that it would cost 1/5th of that now is just bonkers, especially since the manufacture and issuing would inevitably be put out to tender and result in a profit-making enterprise overseeing it.

It hasn't stopped 100s of 1000s of people crossing the Med into Europe.

Remind me. Which country suggested we need ID cards to stop illegal immigrant? And which country are all these illegal migrants traisping through to get to the UK?

It's not just a french dead cat being dropped here to deflect from their own inability to prevent it, is it?

Hmmm. Let me think.

Well they do interview these migrants and they have a reason for wanting to come to the Uk - English is the only language they speak and there are already people they know here are the usual responses.
But let's not forget the numbers crossing on boats are really low. 21,000 this year, and approximately 30,000 last year.
We are the ones making the massive deal about uncontrolled immigration but the reality is it's a tiny fraction of our population.
We really need to open legal routes in again, and document people as they arrive. And issue ID cards or not, whatever.

Other simple solutions to complicated problems: Brexit. 'nuff said.

I would like an ID card if it is cheap and fairly easy to get. I currently do not have useful ID as never had a driving licence and my passport is out of date. A new passport is quite expensive. I cannot login to Government Gateway and do not have correct ID for something else I am trying to do.
The lack of ID is made worse by using my husband's name as my birth certificate is not in the name I use.

Provisional driving licence may be an option, unless you've eyesight issues that would exclude you. They're cheaper than passports and there's no requirement to actually intend to drive. You just apply.

https://www.gov.uk/id-for-driving-licence

You memtion a birth certificate and being married, so you could send those certificates as the necessary proof of ID?

The French are more than happy to send people they don't want to England.

But immigrant or not, its incredibly easy to work for cash in hand in the UK.

So for 30000 illegal migrants per year, 65 million of us need ID cards.

🤔

When you think about it in those terms, you kinda go 'hmmm why?'

So just how is an ID card going to stop cash in hand jobs being available?

Maybe we could, hmmm, make cash in hand illegal instead. Do we think that might be more effective?

"Why would anyone who has nothing to hide from the authorities prefer not to hold an official proof of identity?"

It is a slippery slope though. Surely if you have nothing to hide yu wont mind you phone calls and txt messages checked by the government.
Police controlled in home surveillance would be great fo stopping domestic violence... not a abuser? then why would you object?

Silly examples, But it always worries me when someone says "why are you worried if you have nothing to hide"

A helpful reminder: the staff at the Post Office were innocent but found themselves at the centre of a Kafkaesque nightmare unable to prove themselves innocent. Some killed themselves over it.

I used to be against identity cards, but after Brexit I'm now firmly in favour. Brexit showed that UK governments cannot ever be trusted to honour their commitments and that to ensure that we can get what we're entitled to we need an official document that recognises who we are, where we live, and how long we've lived there.

😑

Surely in proving that the UK government can't be trusted you'd not want to trust them with ID cards?!

🙃

We had them in a European & an Asian country. They were linked to our home rental, bank account, car purchase & insurance etc. We were fingerprinted in Europe but not Asia.
No objection at all.

You clearly didn't have to produce 6" of documents proving that for each and every year of the preceding 20+ years your spouse had been living in the UK just so they could continue living in the UK because some gammony fuckwits don't like people speaking funny in the bus queue.

Once people had the identity card there would not be such an issue - I know things can be lost but everyone would have this document who lived here legally, tracing people would be easier and crime would reduce. The government are talking about facial recognition which would be linked to this.

How would ID cards reduce crime?

@OrdsallChord
The police would be able to track people more easily, those without ID clearly would be illegal. People would know they were being tracked which would reduce likelyhood of offending

🤣🤣 I reckon in 30 years time the govt will be advocating for that!

Hmmm that's not just Brexit though is it? Could apply equally to Windrush. And what happens in the process of getting your ID card? How do you prove you are eligible for one?