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?

I don’t quite get the correlation with migrants but I think it’s quite incredulous that every other developed country can manage this and we apparently can’t

yes I have a passport and driving licence but many have neither

A lot of the arguments were to do with cost. People who had already paid for a passport were annoyed to pay yet again. People who couldn't afford a passport couldn't afford an ID card either

Absolutely no way would I be in favour of paying for it myself

When they were proposed it was intended to be biometric. They're of limited use without.

I think the start up costs of funding it might be necesssary @Kitkat1523 , but once we were a year into the operation, I reckon you'd probably decide to pay a £25 one-off fee to be legitimate and demonstratably legal would be irrestistable.

I would support the introduction of biometric ID cards.

I do favour a biometric element, personally.

I think it's quite a good idea.

I agree with a PP that a lot of people use driving licenses in this way, but if you can't drive for medical reasons you wouldn't be allowed one. If you never want to drive it seems a bit silly to keep renewing a provisional license, and I don't imagine the DVLA really want their system for driving licenses piggybacked for ID purposes.

What a loaded question at the end. You didn’t write the Scottish indyref ballot as well did you?

of course not having ID is not the reason the UK is a destination for migrants. Just about the stupidest reasoning I’ve heard. Of course idiots will lap it up.

I have lived abroad where they have them. In my experience asking for id was used by police in a racist way in those countries.
I was a white foreigner in a Caucasian country and never got asked. In contrast on buses non-white locals regularly got stopped and asked.

Those of you seeing no problem with them - are you white British? That’s probably why it’s ok for you to contemplate. It means that it is illegal not to have it, so ordinary people are discriminated against because they have to do go to the police station if they innocently forget to have it with them.

This 100%

I am both white and British. And I spent several months in a country enduring a civil war being a tourist. My vehicle was always passed through military checkpoints quickly, but it was always checked. But days before and days after people died in mass explosions.

Why do you hold that view @Uptheflagpole ? Please be kind and explain your thinking?

It would cost a fortune and achieve very little. Why would ID card's do anything to dissuade people who are willing to risk their lives to get here? (And supposedly dissappear into the "black economy" anyway). ID cards will not make any difference to these people. Those that come to work legally (the vast majority) will have passports and visas and sponsorship from an employer.
Its another rightwing gimmick to make people believe in simple solutions to complex problems.

I simply want a single document or card that proves my identity and my entitlement to medical treatment in the first instance, and to rent a home and take employment after that. Voting comes third.

I understand @TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum scepticism too.

Yeah, sort of get your point @Uptheflagpole , but I prefer an orderly, well mannered world and I don't think your mind set creates one. I think we disagree on what matters.

I don't really understand what an ID card would do that a passport doesn't? That covers my identity, my right to work and right to rent. I've never had to prove my right to NHS treatment. So an ID card seems like another thing (since passports arent going anywhere), not anything that simplifies things

Yep. I haven't got a passport or driving licence these days, and am getting locked out of things for lack of one¹. It feels a bit much to pay around £100 for a document I will only use as ID.

I've lived in countries with ID cards, can't see any problem with them, and have also long thought a comprehensive DNA library would be more useful than not.

¹ Can't sell on Vinted, can't get my money out of a defunct bank account, can't do paid surveys, all sorts of things. It's getting really annoying!

The UK have made itself a migrant destination as:
a) Brexit ensures that UK can no longer send asylum seekers back to the first European country they entered [usually France]]
b) we have too generous a benefit/support system for asylum seekers
c) we do not process asylum seekers' applications quickly enough (and b applies)