By Andy McCue, 21 December 2005 13:20
NEWS
The government's controversial Identity Cards Bill has this week made another small step towards completing its passage through parliament and is now set for a crucial vote in the House of Lords in January.
The bill has just completed its 'committee stage' in the House of Lords where no further amendments to the legislation proposed by the government were passed.
Home Office minister Baroness Scotland of Asthal also resisted pressure from Lords to reveal more details on the cost breakdown after academics warned the government's £5.8bn calculation is flawed and that the real cost could hit almost £30bn.
The 'report stage' of the bill will now take place in mid-January in the House of Lords where the legislation is expected to come in for stronger criticism from peers and be put under much closer scrutiny.
Amendments to the bill can still be proposed at this point with the final reading and vote in the House of Lords taking place shortly after completion of the report stage.
The Lords can throw the ID cards bill out here but the more likely scenario is that it will be passed with amendments. If the Lords do throw the bill out then Prime Minister Tony Blair may be forced to invoke the Parliament Act to override their vote and get the bill passed into law.
Any amendments passed by the House of Lords are then passed back to the House of Commons for MPs to accept or reject. The bill will continue to be passed between the two Houses until the amendments are agreed on, before it finally gains the Queen's Royal Assent and becomes law as an Act of Parliament.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard Davies
What can anyone do to stop this...its seems that even an uproar from private sector and individuals who know about IT etc. doesn't even make the government blink.
Its going to happen, going to be a knightmare and when will the government realise that they are wasters of tax payers money and that they don't actually do what the people want.
2. Karen Challinor
We have already lost the right to free speech, now if you disagree with policy and are standing in the wrong place you will be arrested, charged and imprisoned
How long before I won't be allowed to communicate my thoughts in a forum such as this without censorship from the government
The ID card is another step along the road to a police state
And for the inevitable people who will write in saying they had ID cards in the war or such and so country has them and it doesn't cause a problem, I say yes but they don't have the national identification register, a database that will track and control your day to day activities, the card may not be compulsory but it will be required for any train travel, major financial purchase, NHS treatment or to enter any official building which makes it pretty near compulsory
This is my country, this is your country, we do not need to purchase a piece of plastic to tell us this, we do not need a politician to tell us this, it is our birthright that our elected officials are trying to sell to us
I say no to the ID card bill, I say no to the national identification register
I'm saying no Mr Blair, do you have a response ?
3. Mike
Silicon.com can help by promising to publish a list of all the MPs who vote for the ID card legislation. We can then subject them to a torrent of emails, letters, demonstrations outside their "surgeries", visits to their constituencies (Do any of them still visit their constituencies except at election time?) etc.
Actually, silicon.com could publish a list of those misguided individuals who voted for the previous reading, so we could get some training in now and give them a foretaste of what will happen if they vote for it!
Perhaps a competition for the best ways of making life unpleasant for MPs (Only legal methods please), who are stupid enough to vote for this bill!
4. Stephen Matthews
When has this government ever stopped to worry about spending our money? The more ludicrouse the project, the less wanted the result, the more that want to spend on it. What's the betting all MP's get it for free??
5. Paul
Anyone who finds the idea of ID cards and the national register intrusive or just a bad idea might want to take a look at www.no2id.com
6. anonymous
Apartheid is no longer in the Republic of South Africa , there they used to have a population register and an Identity Document (better known as The Book Of Life ).
Our wise politicians have taken the same idea with a population Register and an ID card .
Freedom and Liberty in England is a myth , words used in a propaganda war against its own citizens.