We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006.”
Details of Petition:
“This is a petition to stop the proposed ID Card Scheme. You will: Attend appointment to be photographed have your fingerprints taken and iris scanned or be fined £2500 Additional fines of £2500 may be levied each time you fail to comply until you submit Promptly inform the police if you lose your card or it becomes defective, or you will have committed a criminal offence and face a fine and/or up to 51 weeks imprisonment Promptly inform the national identity register of significant changes to your personal life or face a fine up to £1000. You may also be obliged to submit to being re-interviewed, re-photographed, re-fingerprinted and re-scanned, or face a fine. Pay between £30 and £93 to be registered We’ll be prevented from renting or selling a home or staying in a hotel. We won’t be able to buy a car or a mobile phone open or use a bank account travel register with a doctor get education work or run a business (officially) live or (officially) die. The House of Lords rejected this 5 times before they compromised.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
We all need to be able to prove who we are, quickly, easily, and securely - when travelling, when opening a bank account or getting a new mobile phone, or applying for a new job. We also need to protect ourselves and our families against identity fraud, and protect the community against crime, illegal immigration, and terrorism.
The National Identity Scheme is a major undertaking which will ultimately deliver a standard and simple proof of identity for all those who are legally entitled to live and work in the UK. It will give us a new way to do this - more securely, and more conveniently, using fingerprint biometrics to link people securely with their core identity details held on a single National Identity Register (NIR).
The first identity cards for foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control will be compulsory. It will also be a requirement for people who wish to work in sensitive areas to have an identity card. However, identity cards will be phased in for the wider UK population on an entirely voluntary basis.
Once fingerprint biometric passports are introduced we will give everyone the choice of having a separate passport or identity card or both, with identity details recorded on NIR.
We intend that the fee for an identity card in 2009 and 2010 will be £30 or less.
You will be required to enrol facial and fingerprint biometrics in order to be enrolled on the NIR, but we have no plans to enrol iris biometrics. You will not be fined if you refuse to provide fingerprint biometrics, you simply will not be recorded on the NIR and will not receive an identity card. There are no criminal penalties for not applying for an identity card.
Once you are on the NIR you are obliged to update the details held on your record if they change, for example when you move house, and to inform the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) if you lose your identity card. The exact means of communicating updates to your details have not yet been finalised but they will not involve interviews, new photographs or new fingerprint enrolment unless there has been a significant change to your fingerprints or facial appearance or there is a suspicion of fraudulent activity.
You will be given a reasonable period of time to contact IPS in the case of updates to the NIR and there will be no criminal penalty for those who fail to contact IPS.
Under the legislation in the Identity Cards Act 2006 no services may be made dependent on the production of an identity card. You will not be prevented from renting or selling a home, staying in a hotel, buying a car, registering with a doctor or from accessing any other public or private services just because you do not hold an identity card.
Finally, the Identity Cards Act does not include any requirement to have to carry an identity card at all times; and it made no changes to police powers.
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