It may not be much but it's a start.

promising....

They've made it a matter of "choice", so the compulsory aspect has, at least, gone. That's choice. As in you can choose to have one and travel or choose not to travel if you don't. Unfortunately that appears to be where the choices will end. Why is a British Passport no longer sufficient, I wonder? Thank fuck we'll soon be rid of this ridiculous bunch of authoritarians. The Tories will be just as bad in other areas, no doubt, but at least the at least appear to want to scrap the scheme wholesale. Oh, there's those italics again. Is my cynicism showing?

The government tried to introduce ID cars in Oz.

didn't go down well at all with a country that has an in-built anti-authoritarian persona.

then they tried the 'non-compulsorary' angle. No need to ever have one but if you wanted to access government benefits like your pension or health-care etc.

That caused even a bigger stink..

then they tried the old..will cut down costs..everything on one card , driver's license, medicare,etc

that got the public servant unions up in arms with potential lost jobs

the whole debate disappeared and the ID card never appeared.

only a matter of time before it does again..

Yes, I think the UK government have tried those angles too. It may be that this slight climb down is preparing the ground for scrapping the scheme entirely. I hope so.

Very good news. Makes you wonder why they even considered such a crazy idea in the first place.

Only problem by having the system in place is this though - if a "Terror" attrocity happened again then there may be calls in the emotive aftermath for ID Cards to be brought in.........and there would be the system ready made.

Now I am sure our Government or those in power would never stoop so low as to allow an attack or sponsor one in order to push through a policy ( After all our MPs are totally honest ) but...........

Good news though - a big day for freedom.

Alan Johnson basically was economic with the truth - this press release from NO2ID has just come out :

This is the latest from no2id:


+ IMPORTANT NEWS +

** The ID scheme has NOT been shelved, cancelled, or even significantly
changed **

Once more government spin has triumphed and much of the media has got it
wrong. The new Home Secretary Alan Johnson has not made any significant
changes to the scheme. Compulsion by stealth is still the order of the
day, just as it always was. Someone joining the ID scheme 'voluntarily'
will still be placing control of their identity in the hands of the IPS
for life.

The Home Office line remains the same. No compulsion (as the Home Office
defines it) was going to be applied until almost everyone had
'volunteered' and then it was only a matter of rounding up a minority of
resisters and marginalised people.

The Home Office's idea of "voluntary" is not the same as yours and mine.
Since 2004 the scheme was (and it still is) to proceed by "designating"
one-by-one under the Identity Cards Act 2006 other documents issued by
official bodies -- in the first place passports.

Once a document has been designated, you won't be able to apply for one
without also applying to be entered, for life, on the national identity
register. If you don't agree to be registered it won't be that you are
refused (say) a passport; you'd have voluntarily decided not to apply.
There's no compulsion to have a passport. It is useful for travelling.
But you aren't compelled to travel.

Or (say) to drive. Or to work as a security guard. Or with children. Or
in healthcare. To get parole from prison. To practice as a lawyer. ...
Any official licence, registration certificate or permit can be
designated, and -- in the home office's skewed logic -- handing control
of your identity to the Home Office's Identity and Passport Service will
still be entirely voluntary.

That they were due for a confrontation with the airside worker's unions
over designating new passes at Manchester and City Airports is an
illustration of just how voluntary "voluntary" really is. But the fact
they have now ducked that fight for political convenience suggests
saying no does work - if you say it loudly enough.

---
It is still not too late for MPs to derail the scheme by repudiating the
regulations due to be debated next week and detailed in the last
newsletter. Only one of those statutory instruments has been dropped. If
you have not done so already, please contact your MP:
www.writetothem.com

(NO2ID's lobbying guide, written for us by the former assistant of a
very distinguished retired minister, is brusque but absolutely to the
point: www.no2id.net/downloads/print...HowtoLobby.pdf )

Peers will also have a vote on this; so if you happen to know one (or be
one), then it would be a good idea to alert friends in the Lords now
that the matter is soon to come up.