Wigan woman appointed as the first ever Minister of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Secretary in Westminster-speak) for the European Union. Who cares!

"Wigan woman appointed as the first ever Minister of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Secretary in Westminster-speak) for the European Union. Who cares!"

So what is wrong with Wigan? She has to come from somewhere.

which bit of "we do not want id cards" does every labour mp seem not to understand?
we've only got till may and then hopefully this bunch of blinkered idiots with poor hearing will be out!

No doubt Labour hacks will have submitted carefully-worded and screened questions to be answered. How many critical comments / questions will get through I wonder?

one word, NO. Please listen, NO.
A very small word, simple meaning, do you get it?

I dont have a problem in carrying an ID card but my main concern is the cost and why should we have to pay for it? If the Government want us to have them, then they should fully pay for them!

I hope Ms Hillier is sent your on-line result of 96% against ID cards - that will mean a lot of fluffy Gov PR spin for them to work on! In the meantime, take a look at NO2ID's website

Well done to all the questioners and thanks MEN for putting the vote in the transcript

Could someone inform me as to why it is such a problem to carry an ID card?
I have a driving licence that is Eurozone friendly, it has my name,address and photograph on it. I have a passport which has my name,date of birth, country of origin and a photograph in it.
If an ID card covered those there would be less to be burdened with! I feel that if these cards identified individuals abusing the system then it would be worth it.
Those that cry that it is a breach of 'human rights' could be looked upon as having something to hide.
It is about time there was a tool that could identify those that would do this country harm,whether it be by terrorism,thuggery,criminal or anarchic behaviour.

Pathetic PR stunt by this mob! Tell this jumped up public servant(!) that we in the Republic of Mancunia........ARE NOT INTERESTED!
Get the message?????

YOU choose to apply for a Driving licence, YOU choose to have a Passport. With the I.D. card you DO NOT CHOOSE, it will be compulsary and you will have to pay for it, also would you trust this bunch of idiots with ALL your personal details, remember all the memory sticks going missing with millions of child benefit details on them or how many laptops have gone missing with highly sensitive security details left on. There is absolutely no need to carry any Government I.D. card in today's society. People may already carry a credit card, Passport or driving licence, be on the electoral role so Police can check your details already. Forgers will quickly be able to clone any new card.This is just another tax raising excercise by a government that as bankrupted Britain and are desperat to get more cash out of us.

Dzenko, Manchester

I have asked this question over and over again since the ID card idea reared its head.

The problem is what will happen if you don’t have your card with you?

If you are given time to produce it, like your driver licence, then it is a waste if time

If you are fined on the spot, still useless.

If you are arrested and someone have to bring it to the police, then Ok, but there are going to be a lot of people locked up for doing nothing more than going to work/shop etc and forgetting the thing.

How many will be lost, stolen or forged, again waste of time.
Just check on the web and see how many credit cards, passports and driver licences are lost/stolen each year.

OK it can be argued that the average person will never be asked for it, hence it will end up in the top drawer, then shock horror you cant find it.

This government is introducing draconian laws in the name of anti terrorism so much so that the terrorist is winning by the back door.

The chef spotland

The word to worry about is ‘CARRY’

This is a trial not a roll out and people should use the only democratic sanction left, do not get one and see this fail. This is part of the European experiment, not British at all.

OK so how many mugs have paid £30 for a pointless card? and how many will own up to it in 6 months when the scheme is dead in the water (lol) Sheep!

That webchat was a waste of time she hardly answered anything.I asked serveral questions and she only answered one of them.

Here are the questions I would have liked answered.

1. We already have a photo driving licence, could you not combine the two together, would make much more sense?

2. Will the police have access to my fingerprints. I do not want my prints to be searched on every single crime that happens. Mistakes can happen and do not want my door broken down and dragged out of bed by police? (THIS WAS ANSWERED)

3. If the ID card was usable instead of international passport than I would jump at the chance. I am still considering getting one as the European travel appeals to me. but would other countries know its genuine and can you hire a car in Europe with just the card or require passport too?

4. The application form asks you for your last 5 years where you lived. the passport does not. so are they going to do credit checks on you before you get a card?

5. Is there reduced rates for unemployed people to buy the card?

6. If a new government came in and abandoned the card, would the id card still be valid or become useless?, also would you get your money back for something that's no good.

7. Will the ID card supersede the passport so a passport will never need to be bought again?, as you pay nearly £90 for a passport yet ID card is £30 and offers same thing.

9. If ID cards are abandoned will all biometrics and fingerprints be destroyed?

When they had them in Spain,they cost about four quid and they included a photo,NI number and a fingerprint. Spain scrapped them three years ago! Handy for shopping and that's about all as,when you paid by debit/credit card,the checkout could see that it was you,rather than relying on a signature!

"It is about time there was a tool that could identify those that would do this country harm,whether it be by terrorism,thuggery,criminal or anarchic behaviour"

And how will a small plastic card identify if someone is likely to indulge in an of that type of behaviour?
If we really need to, why not spend some of the billions already spent, or some of the countless that will be on actual policing, rather than an attempt to keep tabs on the general public.

' This is a trial not a roll out and people should use the only democratic sanction left, do not get one and see this fail. This is part of the European experiment, not British at all'

Can we all be very clear on this? This is nothing to do with the EU. It's Labour that are trying to control your every movement. No-one else. Do not for one second forgive Labour anything by claiming they're forced into it by the EU.

There is absolutely no case for ID cards or the accompanying databases if one takes the government's justifications at face value. It is also nothing to do with 'having something to hide' as our friend who wants to reverse the presumption of innocence commented below. Shame on you.

It has never been convincingly explained how this system will 'help stop terrorism/illegal immigration/fraud' etc.
What it will in fact do (go read the ID cards Act and statutotry instruments if you don't believe me) is to impose lifelong reporting obligations to the state on pain of up to £1,000 fines, lead to a complete loss of control over your identity, a lifelong system of surveillance that logs every time your info is used and with whom and a wide variety of public bodies being able to pull up information on you without your consent.

It is really telling that the HO is now using junior ministers to push their control state agenda. Let's not beat about the bush. These databases are about making the state's life easier, not that of the citizen, and at the expense of our civil liberties which Labour have been busy trashing for the past 12 years.

I find the idea of the state managing my identity and creating profiles on us all an offensive one. I find it even more offensive when people do not tell the truth about this scheme or try to mislead others about it.

So for those that don't know:

This is not a voluntary scheme. From a certain date you will be required/you will be automatically registered onto the databases regardless of whether you carry around a piece of plastic in the shape of a card. Card or passport, it's a red herring. They are just the 'front-ends' to a behemoth of a centralized indexing system which the government intend to become 'an essential part of everyday life'.

If you want a truly voluntary new form of identity one is already available in the form of the citizen card for £10:

http://www.citizencard.com/

I hope we can all see this scheme for what it is and get on with more important matters.

J

Maybe somebody smarter than me could look into a couple of things - i.e. what kind of associated technology and software has to go along with these cards? I am assuming that there some and that it is going to cost many millions. Could that special somone then find out what company/companies are earmaked to supply this technology and if anybody on their board/s are connected in anyway to members of government. Lastly, have contracts already been signed? This would explain a lot.

For myself I want to know how a government who is in breach of a EU ruling on the legality of storing DNA data from people who have never been charged with a crime, can expect us to trust them with yet more of our personal information. Dosesn't this make them criminals themselves?

I read the other day that a senior (retired) police officer has stated that police routinely arrest people whose DNA they want to get their hands on and then let them go without charge, having gotten it. What is going on in this country. They have a huge chunk of the nation focused on the largely beneficial influx of immigrants, while they sneak in this kind of freedom choking legilsation under our noses. In the name of freedom and security??? It is double speak. It is madness.

ID cards are nothing new; everyone had to carry one by law from 1939 until 1952. If you've got nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to be afraid of - simple as! The only people objecting to compulsory ID cards will be illegal immigrants, terrorists, liberal do-gooders, etc.

Dispite a recession Labour still insist we spent £30 for a piece of plastic nobody wants or can afford both in cost and consequences, when will they ever wake up and when will they listen to the public like Tony "Bampot" blair once commented when he got into power a 2cd time. When have Labour ever listened to public opinion, NEVER. A bunch of power hungry ants the lot of them. Let me spell it out once more for the hard of hearing WE DONT WANT ID CARDS.

Man from Snowy River: "ID cards are nothing new; everyone had to carry one by law from 1939 until 1952."

Yes, as a temporary measure introduced during a world war. They hung around for a while and were then consigned to the dustbin of history where they will remain.

"The only people objecting to compulsory ID cards will be illegal immigrants, terrorists, liberal do-gooders, etc."

Which of those categories would you place the Tories and UKIP into?

It gets worse. Embedded in each card is an RFID chip which can be read from several metres away. In Bermuda, where I lived for a while, they used this technology to replace the car tax disc with a plastic card with RFID - ostensibly to crack down on car tax dodgers. But when the card readers began sprouting from lamp-posts and other roadside objects, it became obvious that the real reason was to track cars around the island, which is only 22 miles long and less than 2 miles wide. And if a tax dodger DID drive by, he'd be invisible to the scanner anyway!
No - the real reason for Bermuda's experiment was to trial the ID card technology that will be rolled out in the UK when the ID card gets into full swing. ID card holders will be tracked wherever they go - on trains, buses, and even just down the road for a copy of the MEN. They will know where you've been, and when. Collating the data will also give them an idea of who was there with you. PLEASE, Manchester - SAY NO TO ID CARDS!!!!

Man from Snowy River, Higher Boarshaw

"The only people objecting to compulsory ID cards will be illegal immigrants, terrorists, liberal do-gooders, etc. "

When I checked at the time of the last election the BNP were against ID cards.