Rant blog - blast from the past

Back to the future with National Digital ID

Back in 2008, the Prime Minister of the UK was Gordon Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair in 2007. The push for National ID cards in the UK was a continuation of policies initiated by Tony Blair's government, which had introduced the Identity Cards Act 2006. This act laid the groundwork for the implementation of a national ID card scheme, which was a key part of Blair's agenda to enhance security and combat identity theft and illegal immigration.

The scheme faced significant opposition, particularly from the Conservative Party, which elected David Cameron as its leader in December 2005. Cameron was a vocal opponent of ID cards, arguing that they infringed on civil liberties and were an unnecessary intrusion into personal privacy. Despite this opposition, the Labour government proceeded with the implementation, and by November 2008, foreign nationals were required to apply for ID cards when extending their stay in the UK.

Tony Blair, even after leaving office, remained a strong advocate for ID cards and continued to lobby for their introduction. In 2025, his influence was still felt as Keir Starmer, the then-Prime Minister, announced plans for a new digital ID card scheme, which is a revival of Blair's earlier proposals.

This was when No2ID campaigned against previous attempts to introduce a National ID card system

Sadly No2ID website seems to have been taken over or hacked by some Gambling Casino bot hack. Some of the site is in place - but links often go back to the godawful 'new' index page full of gambling crap

"Ministers ALWAYS talk about Identity Cards they very very rarely talk about a National Identity Register...they talk about CONVENIENCE to the citizen but its really about convenience to the state and your privacy is disposable under those circumstances"

Yours truly speaks asks a question at 39 mins 30 seconds in. The article I was referred to is discussed here

Stolen ePassports worth £20m on the black market

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