NO2ID: ‘Angry Andy’ and ‘Lapdog Linton’ lose the plot

Wednesday, 29, Mar 2006 12:00

Civil liberty and privacy campaigners NO2ID this afternoon accused Under-Secretary of State, Andy Burnham, and Martin Linton MP of misrepresentation and complete inconsistency on the nature and purposes of the ID cards scheme.

Mr Burnham’s most recent attempt to mislead the public occurred within the

72 hours leading up to today’s Commons debate, when he made contradictory public statements in the Observer and on the Today programme.

In the Commons debate this afternoon, Martin Linton MP tried to suggest that the data held on the National Identity Register would be “the same” as that requested by NO2ID from those registering their support of the national campaign against the ID cards scheme.

Phil Booth, NO2ID’s National Coordinator, said: “New Labour’s ID card zealots are tying themselves in knots. They can’t even keep to their own stories, let alone the promises their party made at the election.

“If Mr Burnham is uncomfortable when people draw comparisons between Home Office plans and the Third Reich, maybe he should stop telling us who is and isn’t a ‘good citizen’ and remember that politicians are public servants, not our masters.

“And if the Government is seriously suggesting that the National Identity Register will contain no more personal information than your name, contact address and e-mail address then why does the Bill provide for the recording of no less than fifty categories of information?