(Apolgies for the lack of posts – things at Kevin Towers are slightly bonkers at the moment – I hope to drag the blog back on track over the next day or so)
In “Well that went well Ideas” from the last UK Administration, the UK Identity card scheme has formally ended has now ceased.
This means that if you were foolish enough to pay the £35, and have your data collected by IPS, Congratulations! You now have a collectors item with your biometric information on it.
The database itself is slowly being dismantled and destroyed and should be formally shut down on the 21st February.
According to Immigration minister Damian Green
‘Laying ID cards to rest demonstrates the government’s commitment to scale back the power of the state and restore civil liberties.
‘It is about the people having trust in the government to know when it is necessary and appropriate for the state to hold and use personal data, and it is about the government placing their trust in the common-sense and responsible attitude of the people.’
More importantly, for viewers to this blog, it means as of 21st January, you cannot use your UK Issued Identity card for travel within the European Economic Area or to put it in the words of IPS:
In line with the terms of the Act identity cards ceased to be valid legal documents for the purposes of confirming identity, age or for travel in Europe on 21 January 2011.
If you need to travel beyond UK and Ireland borders the answer is simple: Get a Passport. And don’t take it on a night on the town to use as Identity… sign up for one of the PASS Schemes.
Alas, parts of the system remains as the scheme operated by UK Borders (The Biometric Resident Permit) will be continue to expand covering areas such as have migrant workers, foreign students and family members from outside the European Economic Area. One step at a time eh?
And as I said in the beginning when this was rolled out, it was a bad idea and poorly implement – end to end – and we have now come to the natural conclusion of the scheme. And Good Riddance.
