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The new asylum-seeker smartcards must not become 'de facto' ID cards - the restrictions guaranteed in Parliament must be adhered to in practice
Press Release 31st January 2002
Roger Bingham, Liberty:
"When the asylum-seeker 'smartcard' was debated in Parliament, the Home Secretary gave categorical guarantees that they would only provide access to services specifically relating to the asylum process and would have no wider use. It's essential that this remains the limit of their scope - any wider use would instantly risk creating discrimination against non-white people, including millions of British citizens, who might find themselves being asked repeatedly to show an entitlement card that they neither have nor need.
"At various points in the debate, Mr Blunkett stated that: “the card is for a specific purpose”; that “the cards would not allow people to be stopped in the street; they are not about policing” and that they are “not a forerunner of anything”. The proposed smartcard must adhere to these clear guaranteed restrictions in practice as well as in principle. This must not become a backdoor route to introducing ID cards. "http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/