The Home Office held a public consultation on the issue of identity cards in 2002. The government claims that following the public consultation there is a clear public acceptance for the principle of a compulsory ID card. There was however also a large negative response organised by an ID card opposition group, which the Government treated as one reply.
Opposition groups argue that the government is ignoring any dissenting opinions on the scheme and that the consultation process was flawed and does not truly reflect the opinions of the public at large.
Subsequent opinion polls produced by the BBC and others still indicate that many people are in favour of the proposal particularly if the cards are free. The cards will not be free and even if they were they would have to be financed by the Treasury and thus would be paid by taxpayers anyway.
Interestingly polls also indicate that the majority of people believe their data will be illegally disclosed but as law-abiding citizens they have nothing to fear.
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