David Cameron on ID Cards "I promise you this....in office, we will pull it down."
Conservative Party leader David Cameron has made a speech in Manchester today:
Under my leadership, we'll always strive to do the right thing.That means saving our energy to oppose the government when it's wrong.
Like on ID cards.
Labour can't decide what it's for.
They can't control what it costs.
They can't explain why they're making it compulsory.
Labour's plastic poll tax has no place in modern Britain.
It's an ugly monument to the waste, chaos and vanity of intrusive, over-mighty government.
I promise you this....in office, we will pull it down.
We hope that this means that the abolition of the entire centralised biometric database National Identity Register scheme, and not just the "ID Cards" aspect of it. is to become a firm Conservative Party election manifesto committment.
We will be seeking clarification to see if that really is what the official Tory party policy is currently.
Given the ineffective Tory Opposition to Labour on many civil liberties issues in the past, we will be more likley to believe David Cameron if he affliates his party to support the cross party NO2ID Campaign, which does have the support of several of the smaller Opposition parties.
Comments
If they can say for certain in their manifesto that they will abolish the NIR and the ID card then they will have my vote even if every other policy is the same as neoLabours. However I will say now, no commitment, no vote.
I do not trust the Tories any more than I trust Labour and I do not support any of the mainstream political parties as they all have a non-Libertarian agenda.
The only difference between the parties is that the Liberals and the Greens are environmental fascists and Labour and Tories are fascists when it comes to law and order however, they all promise to take most of your cash as a solution to the problems that they have invented in order to scare and control you.
My main question is: Why can the "great unwashed" not get this into their heads?
and if they can:
Why do the majority put up with it?
and
Why do we not have an alternative?
Posted by: Jake Long | April 8, 2006 4:21 PM
Cameron's comments are very interesting. On balance, I think he would want to scrap the NIR as well as the card, if only to save a phenomenal amount of money. I doubt the policy of scrapping the card/NIR will appear as manifesto policy come the next election, because the gullible old public still seem to in favour of their lives being tracked by the government. But this view might change, for various reasons, as we approach the next election. One reason for the majority view changing might be a disasterous project unfolding - highly likely - keep your fingers crossed!
I wonder about Cameron. Is he one of us at heart? Maybe a closet libertarian? One can only hope. Does anyone have details of former speeches (I know this would only be a rough guide to his thinking) that might give a clue to his mindset?
Posted by: A Tench | April 9, 2006 2:20 PM
He actually may be an out-of-the-closet Libertarian: in newspaper interviews he's stated he's in favour of scrapping the drug laws & having a legal system of production & supply (http://d-notice.blogspot.com/2005/09/amazing-drugs-news.html), however, the Tory's drug policy is even worse than Labour's (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2000882,00.html). If the Tory manifesto went along with Cameron's drug views & scrapping the whole ID Card system I'd vote Tory no problem.
Posted by: d-notice | April 9, 2006 3:09 PM
Fantastic news.
Posted by: Caesar | April 12, 2006 10:33 PM