‘THERE’S all hell breaking loose inside parliament right now about this identity cards scheme. The government is facing a hat-trick of defeats and they’re desperately trying to twist arms to prevent it.’
This is what News Line was told by No2ID campaign coordinator, Phil Booth, yesterday, as hundreds of people demonstrated opposite the House of Commons.
To loud cheers, Booth told the demonstrators: ‘Millions of British citizens don’t want ID cards. They see it as an assault on civil liberties.
‘Mr Brown, Mr Blair, are you listening? You talk about respect. How respectful is it to fingerprint, tag and number every citizen in the country?
‘Do not tear up our hard-won freedoms and throw them away.
‘No to ID cards and the database state!’
The demonstrators, who had come from all over the country, applauded Booth loudly and kept up chants of ‘No to ID!’
Doug Jewell, director of Liberty, warned: ‘The government is saying that when you go and get your passport, you’re going to have to register for an ID card. This is compulsion by the backdoor.’
Officials of the PCS civil service union joined the demonstration.
Mike Phillips, assistant branch secretary at the Department for Education and Skills, said: ‘This government talks about fighting terrorism, but in reality in countries which have had ID cards, there is no proof that they have had any effect in stopping bombings.’
Bob Barron, a PCS negotiator, said: ‘It’s an attack on the civil liberties of the people and it’s the way the Nazis used to control people they didn’t like, including trade unionists.’
Sevi Yesildalli, a PCS national executive committee member, said: ‘I think the TUC must speak out against ID cards. It is TUC policy to oppose them.’
Vicky Pulman, from Watford, said: ‘I’m against ID cards and I will refuse to have one.’
