British Liberty's Slow Death

Last night NuLabour removed another chunk of British Liberty by voting the ID register bill through the Commons for the second time. They rejected even the minimal amendments the Lords had made to the bill. Such as removing the voluntary registering of private biometrics when applying for a passport. Since 80% of British subjects hold a passport the gov has very effectively made the scheme compulsory by the backdoor. It seems to me that there is very little chance of stopping the wretched scheme by any means now. By the time any future parliament comes to vote to make the scheme "properly" compulsory, a large section of the population will already be entered on the citizen/criminal register. This fact will then be used by the gov of the day to show the scheme is a success and compulsion should therefore follow. Even if the Tories win the next election they are not likely to suddenly pull the plug on the register. The scheme would have too much momentum by then. They would be portrayed as weak on crime and immigration. Besides when in power the idealism of opposition soon evaporates as Mr. bLair clearly demonstrates:

"Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands more police officers on the beat in our local communities"

That was Toni to the NuLabour party conference in 1995. The only hope is perhaps a major recession in which the scheme becomes the new poll tax. Gordon do your worst.