Identity Cards

What happens if you're under 65? (66 for me)

It's quite easy to obtain birth certificates for a small fee. They don't prove ID on their own nor do an NHS or NI number, because they don't provide photo ID. In any case, do you really want to carry around your birth certificate and your marriage certificate, if you've changed your name?

Even Tesco require ID if you want to pick up something which was ordered online. I use my driving licence, but many people don't have them. It would be far simpler for everybody to be issued with something like the Citizencard, which is currently voluntary.

I don't live in bubble.
I have managed thus far.
ID cards should be optional.
We have birth certificate and an NHS number from birth
National insurance number when old enough to work.

ID fraud is on the mainly on the internet.
Over 65's have photographic bus passes.
I believe over 75 yr passport are much less expensive. so maybe a cheaper option than ID card.

ID card- just of bit of laminated plastic with your Photo and a number on.

Unless big brother is going to force eye recognition &/or finger prints

Civil liberties springs to mind

And you have to be registered to vote to be on the list, of course.

It's not quite so simple. You give your name and address, which is then crossed off a master list. I don't know what happens if two people give the same name and address.

I've never voted because I left the UK at 19 and have never lived anywhere where I was eligible to vote. I can't believe that you don't have to prove who you are when you go to the polling booth. So can anyone just walk in, give a name and put their cross on any ballot sheet? Now none of the results of the past few years surprises me.

That's fine, if you want to live in a bubble. If you want any interaction with society, other people and authorities need to know who you are.

Even homeless shelters usually demand ID from the people they admit. Anybody who needs ID can apply for a Citizencard.
www.citizencard.com/
This is what young people often have to prove their age without having to carry around a passport or driving licence, which are more likely to be stolen and more expensive to replace. Anybody can now apply. Homeless charities and the CAB will help people with their application and some charities will even pay the fee.

No ID card for me.
I know who I am.

'The pilots for ID in polling stations will be be conducted at the local government elections in May 2018. Voters in those areas will be required to bring ID to prove who they are before they can vote, to prevent anyone fraudulently taking another person’s ballot paper.

Local authorities will be invited to apply to trial different types of identification, including forms of photo ID such as driving licences and passports, or formal correspondence such as a utilities bill to prove their address, backed by a signature check.

Skidmore said: “The government’s view is that electoral fraud is unacceptable on any level. I want to protect the right of everyone to have their say and participate in our democracy. That is why the new measures we are announcing today will protect anyone who is at risk of being bullied, undermined or tricked out of their vote – and their democratic right.

“By eliminating fraud and tackling improper practices, we are ensuring the integrity of our electoral system, while building a clear and secure democracy that works for everyone.” '

It's amazing how much legislation this government (and the last) bring in when parliament is in recess.

It's reckoned that 7.5% of the population, mainly the poor and Labour voters, will be disenfranchised.

Under 25 year olds carry ID cards anyway and many continue to carry them after 25 if they don't have a driving licence. Until then, it could be problematic for some people to prove their eligibility to vote, which is presumably why there are going to be a number of different trials. I don't know what will happen with postal votes. Maybe there will have to be something like union ballots, which have two envelopes and are expensive to organise.

We have already lost rights, such as having to pay for employment tribunals, gagged academics and lobbying rights for charities, without a murmur. I don't think this will cause a poll tax moment.

I don't think so. The poll tax hit people in their pockets, where it really hurts.

A lot of people would just grumble a bit about having to produce ID to vote - or just wouldn't bother, which would be counter-productive.

Could be May's polltax moment.

At my polling station they always have a list of voters and their addresses. They tick you off when you collect your ballot paper.

Anyway, as I said earlier. It's postal vote fraud that is the problem, not voting in person.

This government really scares me with its apparent determination to restrict people's rights.

When you have your polling card, it always says you do not need to take it with you. Surely doing that is easier.

If my area is one where you have to show photo ID, I will go to the polling station with my card, and write on it that I refuse to show photo ID, having voted since I was 21 with no problem.
Next step the pass laws.

Yes, this 'ID to vote' is sinister.

As is being pointed out all over twitter, this ploy was used in the US to disenfranchise thousands of voters and is likely to do the same over here (unless, of course, we had ID cards . Perhaps this is softening us up for them).

It is also being pointed out that the big fraud problems occur with postal voting. Impersonation of voters at actual polling stations is very rare. But tightening up the postal voting system would be more difficult than imposing unnecessary ID requirements on people voting in person.

Sorry, ID to be produced.

Id to be produced in certain areas in order to vote is the latest idea.
I have just seen that it is tomorrow's Telegraph, but it was on Sky News six days ago. Why?
On the last day of parliament before Christmas there was a debate about Murdoch taking over Sky. They wanted a vote on it, but were told there was no point and it would be better if it was fully debated when parliament went back after the New Year. Murdoch wouldn't do anything about it before the new year, MPs were told.
Today Murdoch has put in a bid for Sky.
Post Truth? Or just plain manipulation of parliament?

All the basic information about you, which is likely to go on an ID card, is on one server, which the government and police can access. I'm not sure what other information you mean. Anybody under 25 already carries ID, if he/she wants to buy tobacco or alcohol. I expect, to them, it's just normal.

It's a legal obligation to update addresses, if you have a driving licence. Anybody with a student loan is also expected to update address.

Just about the only information which I don't think is linked to Government Gateway, is a person's NHS number.

Not for me thank you very much. I am well aware that much of our lives are already on various computers but at least it is not on one main one which the government etc has access to. If ID cards become compulsory thay may indeed start off with basic details such as present and previous names, date of birth,, NI number etc but this will no doubt be followed by furrther information, much of which will inevitably become out of date unleaa people are prepare to update it.

I for one would welcome the introduction of ID cards,provided we don't have to pay for them! I don't drive,therefore I don't have a driver's licence. I do not possess a passport as I really have no need for one as I never travel abroad nowadays,due to ill-health and the fact that I cannot afford it. And I certainly don't see why I should fork out the best part of £100,which I could ill-afford,just so I can provide the required 'photo ID' which seems to be the norm for everything these days,whether it's opening a bank account,or registering to apply for repeat prescriptions online. I get totally fed-up keep telling the various authorities this. You would think that I was the only fifty-something woman in the UK who doesn't drive and doesn't possess a passport! A nationally recognised ID card would stop all this hassle!

Ana, you did make me chuckle!! Frankly I couldn't care less who knows what about me, from Tescos to MI5! It would make excruciatingly boring reading easily available by the powers that be anyway. Carrying an ID card would seem eminently sensible particularly when you no longer drive or need a passport. I can't see what there is to concern any law abiding citizen. Including medical conditions, info about medication etc, must be a good thing and is information I carry with me anyway.

The vision of an octogenarian trying to hold up a bank and being asked if she had a firearms certificate would make a wonderful cartoon.

I doubt if the bank was put out, grumppa, but a firearms certificate is considered to be an acceptable form of ID, presumably because it's proof that certain checks have been carried out.

Banks carry out more stringent checks these days in an attempt to avoid money laundering and fraud.

An ID card would make your MIL's life easier. My guaess is that there are many people, especially the elderly, who don't have a passport nor a driving licence.

One of our leading banks was very put out when she couldn't produce a firearms certificate either.

Is this symptomatic of our impersonal society. Where banks no longer have local branches and use call centres to deal with problems etc.? Not so long ago, if she had been with the bank for any amount of time, the bank staff would have known who she was without any need for a piece of paper to confirm her identity.

Was she attempting to hold up the bank?

A firearms certificate