Green City Councillor To Speak At NO2ID Meeting

Hellesdon Community Centre 23rd March at 7.00 pm.

22nd March - Green City Councillor Adrian Holmes will speak against the Government's plan to bring in a compulsory ID card based on a a huge national database of personal information on everyone in the UK.

Councillor Holmes said "There is no evidence that the ID card will help in preventing terrorism. However it will cost a phenomenal amount of public money to set up and administer. Once established the Home Secretary will have discretion to add additional information at any time in the future. The ID card and national database is a serious attack on civil liberties and is motivated more by a desire by government for centralised control of citizens rather than the protection of the populace."

In January 2005 Norwich City Council passed a Green Group motion to affiliate to the NO2ID campaign and ask the Home Secretary to halt the legislation. Furthermore the motion committed the Council to not using the ID card as a benefit entiltlement card or to take part in any pilot scheme, unless forced to do so by an Act of Parliament.

Councillor Holmes added: "This scheme is likely to cost every Norwich citizen a minum of £35 with unspecified costs for the future. The ID card system will allow Government unlimited access to sensitive personal details, whilst denying the citizen any effective control over what those details will be used for."

Councillor Rupert Read, Norfolk Green Party Press Officer, added, "Just look at what happened on September 11th. Those terrorists HAD valid ID cards and passports. That didn't stop them. The cost effective way to prevent crime is good police-work and community involvement, not vastly-expensive government-run white-elephant schemes like the ID cards that this government is proposing."