Shocking statistic used to sell ID cards
Up to 570,000 illegal immigrants are living in the UK, according to a new Government estimate published today. (this figure does not include the 716,000 to 772,000 asylum seekers whose applications are already being processed)
That's 1% of the UK population. And the Government wonders why far-right parties are making gains!
England is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has nearly twice the population density of Germany, 4 times that of France and 12 times that of the USA. 59,000 new homes will be required in England each year for the next 17 years for immigrants, and that's in a country that has a chronic housing shortage - according to the UK Government the South East of England alone (already the most densely populated region in Europe) requires 640,000 new houses over the next 20 years, with 200,000 of them to be built on the greenbelt.
Commenting on the new illegal immigrant statistics Immigration Minister Tony McNulty said:
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“It is a useful contribution to the debate and it underlines the need for a robust ID card scheme which will, among other benefits, help tackle illegal working and immigration.” |
It is interesting that the Government releases these statistics, which only a a few months ago it said were impossible to generate, when it is loosing the ID Card debate. And it is quite typical of the UK Government to be two-faced enough to use this piece of news - another that demonstrates their incompetence - to sell to us a piece of legislation that will undermine our civil liberties. In essence what they are saying is, "we fucked up, now you pay the price."
David Davis, the Conservative Party leader in waiting, said this of ID cards:
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"They are not just excessive, but also expensive. Not just illiberal, but also impractical. Not just unnecessary, but also unworkable. A vision rather like this was originally set out by a man called Blair who later changed his name to Orwell and wrote a book called 1984. It was supposed to be a warning. This government has used it as a text book." |
And as the Guardian points out David Davis has also argued that any ID card system had to be measured against four criteria:
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"Will it work to achieve the stated goals? Is the government capable of introducing such a system? Is it cost effective? And can civil liberties be safeguarded?" |
As yet the Government has failed to convince the public on any of those four criteria. And the cost of this new ID Card state? £18 billion ($40 billion Canadian), a tenth of what the UK Government presently spends on the Immigration and Nationality Department of the Home Office, whose job is immigration control, citizenship and asylum. Here's an idea, why not spend the money earmarked for ID cards on processing illegal immigrants and preventing terrorists coming into Britain?
The UK Government is using terrorism and illegal-immigration to scare-monger the British into giving up their hard-won freedoms. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has even accused those who oppose ID Cards of "liberal woolly thinking" and spreading false fears but was rebuked by the civil rights group Liberty who stated:
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“If opponents of identity cards are woolly liberals, what does that make George W Bush? He has ruled out ID cards in the US on the grounds that they will have not one iota of effect on terrorism and will seriously undermine civil liberties.” |
Absolutely, for once Dubbya is spot on because people will still enter Britain using foreign documents - genuine or forged - and ID cards offer no more deterrent to people smugglers than passports and visas.
I am an Englishman, and I am free to walk around England without having to present papers to an agent of the state. It is up to the agent of the state to prove to me that they are who they say they are, and if the state cannot control our borders to keep out people that have no right to be in England, and who threaten the safety of me and my family, then the Government should resign immediately.
No2ID joins my blogroll.
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Tony McNulty in the Power2010 Stocks
from Toque on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 09:58Tony McNulty, exepenses fiddler extraordinaire, is the first MP to be held up to public ridicule by Power2010's Wanted campaign. Considering that the freak has Gordon Brown's backing it's a good choice.
It was Tony McNulty who, responding to a story tha
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It is astonishing that the
It is astonishing that the government has failed to explain how exactly these ID cards will work. Criminals won't be deterred - they'll already have them. And how does an ID card make stealing a car, mugging an old lady or robbing a bank more difficult? The police openly admit that identifying an arrested person is rarely a problem.
Foreign criminals/terrorists will enter the UK on visitor visas so by-pass the unstated benefits of the ID card. And homegrown suicide bombers will have the card in their pockets as they blow themselves up....
The 9/11 bombers used their own names - they made no attempt to conceal their identities. The Madrid bombers carried out their slaughter despite Spain having an ID card scheme.
95% of benefit fraud involves no element of identity fraud.
And so on.
Why does the government persist with this scheme? Here's a theory:
One day terrorists will strike and the government will want to be able to list the things they did/are doing to prevent such outrages. They will also want to score the political point of accusing the opposition parties of hampering the fight against terrorism.
In the absence of any sensible reason for introducing ID cards we can only assume the worst motives.
GM
Sadly it looks as though we
Sadly it looks as though we will get to test your hypothesis Gary.