NIR

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Both the Lib Dems and Tories have been making promising noises regarding the National Identity Register (NIR).The Register has an interesting discussion on some aspects of the NIR/ID/passport debate relating to the three main parties and also how confusing the subject is and that's not just for the politicians!

The passports we have containing a chip are called 'biometric' passports even though they do not contain any biometric data other than a photo. Under ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) rules, the passports we have at present are satisfactory. Also, as we have an opt out from EU asylum and immigration rules, we can manage as we are. Hence we need to have clear information from both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives as to their intentions regarding the passport database.

all to have a number

We have the democratic deficit of: an unelected Prime Minister, unelected ministers who are Peers, an economy that is in a slow tailspin whilst business reacts negatively to the insecurity in government, failing institutions and rising unemployment.

In the meanwhile we have Alan Johnson as our new Home Secretary. He has voted strongly in favour of ID Cards and Labour's anti-terror laws and in an interview in the New Statesman he tells us that:

"I wasn't a Trot," he insists. "I was more CPGB [Communist Party of Great Britain]. I did consider myself to be a Marxist - I read more chapters of Das Kapital than Harold Wilson."