Britain’s Labour Party has vowed to introduce mandatory ID cards in the UK if they win the next general election.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock announced that Labour will require every resident to register their details in a central, government-controlled database.
Labour’s attempt to introduce ID cards 20 years ago, under the leadership of Tony Blair, was thwarted due to widespread disapproval of the Orwellian move. Legislation for mandatory ID cards was passed in 2006 but in 2009 the then home secretary, Alan Johnson, announced they would not be compulsory for UK citizens.
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Theguardian.com reports: In an interview with Times Radio, Kinnock revealed that an identity scheme was being considered “very, very carefully indeed”, adding it would be “so helpful” in reassuring the public that “we have control of our borders”.
He suggested that almost every EU member state had some kind of identity scheme and “it can’t be beyond the wit of man” to devise one for Britain too.
However, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Kinnock’s more senior Labour colleague Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, was less clear.
Askedwhether ID cards were being considered as a solution to cracking down on working without permission in the UK, she replied: “No, I think the issue is there is no proper employment enforcement, that got weaker and weaker.
“If you have people either working illegally or being exploited as well, there is no proper employment enforcement, so we would bring in stronger employment enforcement with proper standards in place, as well as stronger action to crack down on criminal gangs and set out measures to tackle the problem.”
The Labour party has been approached for comment.
