The issue of identity cards for the United Kingdom has caused mixed views on whether they should be issued or not.
The advantages for having identity cards are as follows:
- Government and law enforcement agencies would know who and where people are.
- Harder for illegal immigrants, or failed asylum seekers to get work legally and increases the chances of being stopped and detected.
- Harder to obtain state benefits illegally.
The disadvantages for having identity cards are as follows:
- The cost of identity cards would be as much as £100 per person and would increase when renewed, or a replacement due to being damaged or lost.
- Twenty-seven pieces of information stored on identity cards.
- Unauthorised access to information on a variety of National Databases, set-up on the identity card system.
- People can work within the company that produces identity cards, or governmental departments – to make illegal identity cards.
- The poor, especially if one member of the family has to pay for the rest of the family, would find it difficult to pay for identity cards.
- Forgetting to have your identity cards on you would result in being arrested.
- If an extreme political party gained power, they could use the information on the National Identity Register – to imprison or expel person(s) from the United Kingdom.
The idea that identity cards would eradicate fraudulent claims of state benefits, or terrorists attacking or operating within the United Kingdom, this wouldn’t happen.
Due to technological advances and the ease in buying the equipment to produce identity cards could be compromised by organised criminal organisations, terrorists or hostile countries would be able to produce false identity cards.
Those that wanted to operate in the United Kingdom would be able to do so once smuggled into the country. The identity card would hamper illegal immigrants, failed asylum seekers, criminals, terrorists, or those that seek to sabotage, injure or destroy the United Kingdom – in the beginning, but not for long.
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