Stephanie Dearden
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Tooting
Tel: 020-7771-2551 or 07985649807
PRESS RELEASES
Tuesday, 25th October 2005
Criticism of ID Cards Proposals Mounts Up
The Liberal Democrats have launched a new anti-ID Card web site, as their latest
weapon in the fight against the introduction of compulsory Identity Cards. This
comes as two parliamentary committees have denounced plans the scheme,
describing them as threatening basic human rights and undermining the
constitution. The Lords committee on the constitution proposed creating an
independent commission to run the scheme to take it out of direct Government
control, as well as safeguards "to protect individuals from excessive intrusion
into their affairs by institutions of the state or indeed by others". In a
separate report, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said: "It is not clear that
the gathering of personal information of persons applying for a passport, for
example, bears any relation to the protection of national security or the
prevention of crime."
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Tooting, Stephanie
Dearden said:-
This is an important step-up in our campaign against
Labour’s expensive and unpopular plan. Given how much opposition there is to
these plans in the community, it is vital that we make full use of new media as
an important extension to our traditional campaigning. The new site aims to
increase public awareness of the implications of such a measure, which could
severely compromise Civil Liberties. The site also aims to put pressure on the
House of Lords, who have yet to ratify the Bill.
More: www.libdems.org.uk/noidcards
ENDS
Stephanie Dearden
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Tooting
Notes to editors