12 September 2006
NO2ID supporters joined with TUC delegates in Brighton today and condemned Tony Blair's cynical attempts to justify the government's ID card scheme [1]. The Prime Minister segued straight from saying that the rights of undocumented workers should be protected to claiming that ID cards are the solution to illegal immigration and fraud [2].
Phil Booth, NO2ID [3] National Coordinator said:
"Tony Blair sounds more and more like a broken record. When will this government change its tune?
"The Prime Minister confuses adequate border control with a police state, and is clearly stuck in an authoritarian fantasy where "armies of inspectors, police and bureaucrats" constantly check everyone's ID. Desperate for some sort of legacy, he has nothing to offer but Blair's Big Brother Britain.
"If Mr Blair wants to scare us with rising fraud figures, he would do well to note that over 60% of the latest ones published are down to the government itself [4]. Let the state put its own house in order. The British people should not have to pay, nor should we have to sacrifice civil liberties and personal privacy, for the gross negligence of politicians and bureaucrats."
- ENDS -
Notes for editors
1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5336884.stm - 'Blair faces protests from unions', BBC News, 12/9/06.
2) http://www.tuc.org.uk/congress/tuc-12397-f0.cfm - published version of Blair's speech on TUC website (NOT a transcript).
3) NO2ID is the UK-wide, non-partisan campaign against compulsory ID cards and the National Identity Register, see http://www.no2id.net
4) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-2349403,00.html - 'Cost of fraud spirals to £40bn', The Times, 9/9/06. According to the Times' figures, of the £40 billion fraud, £25.5 billion is down to the government itself as "victim" - i.e. 63.75%. N.B. £40 billion is about 4% of UK GDP, which is estimated at £1 trillion.
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