Most people today are sophisticated enough to realise that market research polls are based on the opinions of a carefully selected representative panel of people. I am firmly convinced that the majority of people do not want yet another outlet for their identity, they feel enough is enough. What I don’t understand is why the government has gone ahead, spending a fortune, on something the electorate abhors. I can’t believe that they have continued with this absurdity on the basis of a market research which tells them that it appears to be popular. With 50% of the population having access to e-mails, I would have thought that it would have been possible that someone in the government could have done a research for themselves. I assume that children below a certain age will not require a card. Pensioners already have an adequate identity card in their travel pass, which is either free or doesn’t cost us as much as £30. A high proportion of adults have driving licences which are acceptable under most circumstances for proof of identity. Finally with world travel, as common as it is today, there must be a few million people with passports. What in effect do these reductions mean to the overall scheme? Probably, a so-called national identity system for a very small proportion of the population that are prepared to pay, for personal reasons, £30 to have their identity in tangible form, and for foreign migrants.
I don’t think I’m unique, when I say I’m suspicious of the reasons for which the government intends to introduce this crazy scheme, at a time when it can ill afford the cost and the increase in civil servants, while having no idea about the take-up, especially as it’s not free.