[THE Government has taken the first big step…]

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THE Government has taken the first big step towards forcing everyone in Britain to carry an identity card.

At present national insurance numbers are issued to everyone in the country by a card given to each school leaver and to each person entering the country permanently. This information is only useful for employers and the DHSS.

But from the beginning of this week the information will be issued on new computerised plastic cards. On the back of each card there is a magnetic strip which can store information about the holder - invisibly.

Opposition and civil rights groups believe that this is the start of a national identity card system. Forms given out with the new cards instruct the bearer: 'Sign the card immediately so that no-one else can use it' and to carry the card or keep it safely.

The Government denies that this is the start of an identity card system. The cards, it claims, will be more durable and convenient, and fewer people will lose them. (But surely plastic cards can be lost as easily as paper cards!)

The DHSS employers are quite content with the old system, and have not asked the government to change or update it. The Government says the new system will speed up benefit payments...

In fact such cards can and will be used for identity purposes -right now, for Asian people seeking benefits or health treatment, for example.

In France, which already has a well-established identity card system, people are constantly stopped by the police on the streets or in the metro and asked to produce their cards. If they can't, they are liable to be hauled off.

The Government plans to issue cards immediately to all new school leavers, to all new immigrants, and to people who change their name. 2½ million cards are to be issued this year. Data Card UK, the manufacturers, have confirmed that eventually all UK citizens will hold a card.

This new move therefore needs to be regarded with great suspicion.