Voluntary ID Cards Compulsory Fines

£1,000 fines to bolster ID cards as Tories pledge to scrap scheme (Guardian):

MPs tonight approved fines of up to £1,000 for those who fail to tell the passport and identity service of changes in their personal details including address, name, nationality and gender.

The fines are part of a package of secondary legislation being pushed through parliament designed to implement the national identity card scheme, and which will allow sensitive personal data on the ID card/passport database to be shared with the police, security services and other government departments.

The regulations were approved as the Conservative party made clear for the first time their commitment to scrap not only the identity card scheme but also its underlying database.

The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, told MPs: "One of the first acts of a Conservative government will be cancelling the ID cards scheme. The scheme and the register are both an affront to British liberty and will have no place in a Conservative Britain. They are also a huge waste of money."

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, also made clear that there had been no U-turn over ID cards and that the programme was still on course despite claims that he had ruled out making them compulsory. "We haven't scrapped ID cards, what we are doing is accelerating their introduction," he told MPs. Johnson last week cancelled a compulsory trial due to start in September for 30,000 pilots and airport workers.

The Conservatives' home affairs spokesman, Damian Green, asked how the scheme could be "voluntary" when they were penalties for failing to provide information for the database: "If it is a voluntary card, why are there penalties attached for failing to provide that information?" he said, adding that the government should warn people that once they "volunteer" for a passport or ID card it was then compulsory for the rest of their lives.

Fines starting at £125 and rising to £1,000 are to be levied on those who fail to notify the authorities of a change of name or address, or to surrender an identity card, or to report a card lost, stolen, damaged, tampered with or destroyed.

Total total fucking bastards.