The government wanted to introduce mandatory identity cards. I know lots of places in Europe have these, a bit like a passport, but the way they were being pitched and implementation was the biggest issue.
It was deeply unpopular because since WW2 people hadn't had to carry any kind of identifying papers. It was seen as a relic of an imposing wartime measure. A feeling that was amplified by the fact that Labour's original excuse for the scene was to do with combatting terrorism post-9/11.
They soon pivoted to the real reason, exclusion from public services and police targeting of minorities. The idea is you wouldn't be able to claim any benefits, use public services, or things like the NHS without showing your identity card. This like everything else was focused specifically on so called benefits cheats and immigrants.
That would make it extremely difficult for so called 'illegal immigrants' (although mostly people awaiting asylum decisions, on expired student visas etc) from renting homes, using services, accessing grants, or even going to the doctor. That last one in particular angered even some anti-immigrant people as it would be the end of the NHS being free and open to all. Perhaps the deepest held and only real public institution almost everyone is proud of.
It was also tied to the push for increased policing and Labour's ASBO (anti-social behavior order) scheme which basically allowed fines, house arrest, and other punishments without legal due process or the need to establish a crime had been committed. They also included banning orders for certain areas. They trialled both these and ID cards in mostly poor areas like mine along with increased policing. While the press pointed out lots of ridiculous uses like people being given fines for singing in the bath or issuing the penalties to historic trees as an excuse to cut them done when they were otherwise protected, the most common use was simply to ban people from being in public...
Near us police demanded ID cards - which no one had because it was a trial and you had to pay £35+ for them out of your own pocket - combined vague non-crimes like loitering to target teenagers, kids, and homeless people in order to move them on or even ban them from certain areas (parks, near businesses etc) as a form of 'social cleansing'.
Plus because of the terrorism and immigrarion focus it was another way to target an harass minorities especially, with cops regularly implying that anyone non-white might not be a citizen because they didn't have their papers (ID card) on them as an intimidation tactic.
The fact that white middle class people were never going to be asked for them really, while minorities, the working class, teenagers, and the homeless were constantly targeted meant that making people pay for them was essentially a tax on the poorest / most vulnerable / least represented in society.
The government wanted to introduce mandatory identity cards. I know lots of places in Europe have these, a bit like a passport, but the way they were being pitched and implementation was the biggest issue.
It was deeply unpopular because since WW2 people hadn't had to carry any kind of identifying papers. It was seen as a relic of an imposing wartime measure. A feeling that was amplified by the fact that Labour's original excuse for the scene was to do with combatting terrorism post-9/11.
They soon pivoted to the real reason, exclusion from public services and police targeting of minorities. The idea is you wouldn't be able to claim any benefits, use public services, or things like the NHS without showing your identity card. This like everything else was focused specifically on so called benefits cheats and immigrants.
That would make it extremely difficult for so called 'illegal immigrants' (although mostly people awaiting asylum decisions, on expired student visas etc) from renting homes, using services, accessing grants, or even going to the doctor. That last one in particular angered even some anti-immigrant people as it would be the end of the NHS being free and open to all. Perhaps the deepest held and only real public institution almost everyone is proud of.
It was also tied to the push for increased policing and Labour's ASBO (anti-social behavior order) scheme which basically allowed fines, house arrest, and other punishments without legal due process or the need to establish a crime had been committed. They also included banning orders for certain areas. They trialled both these and ID cards in mostly poor areas like mine along with increased policing. While the press pointed out lots of ridiculous uses like people being given fines for singing in the bath or issuing the penalties to historic trees as an excuse to cut them done when they were otherwise protected, the most common use was simply to ban people from being in public...
Near us police demanded ID cards - which no one had because it was a trial and you had to pay £35+ for them out of your own pocket - combined vague non-crimes like loitering to target teenagers, kids, and homeless people in order to move them on or even ban them from certain areas (parks, near businesses etc) as a form of 'social cleansing'.
Plus because of the terrorism and immigrarion focus it was another way to target an harass minorities especially, with cops regularly implying that anyone non-white might not be a citizen because they didn't have their papers (ID card) on them as an intimidation tactic.
The fact that white middle class people were never going to be asked for them really, while minorities, the working class, teenagers, and the homeless were constantly targeted meant that making people pay for them was essentially a tax on the poorest / most vulnerable / least represented in society.