NEWS RELEASE - Green debate sparks coalition row

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate use 24th February 2005

GREEN ID CARD CAMPAIGN SPARKS COALITION ROW
- vote could see Green-led campaign give Labour a bloody nose

The Scottish Green Party debate on ID cards this morning, the first time the issue had been debated in the Scottish Parliament, sparked a row between Labour and the LibDems. Some backbench Labour MSPs appeared confused over the detail of Blair’s plans for introducing ID cards and a national identity database, whilst the Libdems broke with their coalition partners to reject the scheme.

LibDems appeared to support the objectives of the Green motion yet have fallen short of publicly backing it. Their spokesman Jeremy Purvis later suggested that his party would abstain on the basis of a single word in the motion. Greens expressed the hope that this minor argument over the word ‘notes’ would not stand in the way of LibDems backing the vote against ID cards.

Green Justice speaker Patrick Harvie MSP, a leading campaigner on ID cards in the Scottish Parliament said: “It is expected that today’s vote at 5pm will be a close call and all eyes will be on who supports the Greens in an unequivocal rejection of the Westminster plan.”

“A clear vote against the principle of the ID Cards Bill and a call on the Executive to take further actions to restrict its impact in Scotland would give Labour a bloody nose and raise the temperature of political debate at Westminster.

“It will be interesting to see how Labour fare. It was clear from this morning’s debate that they are isolated on this issue in Scottish politics. It would be a shameful missed opportunity if a single word got in the way of all the other parties uniting with us against Labour proposals.”

For more information contact 0790 99 33 074

NEWS RELEASE - Greens bring ID card debate to Parliament

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release Thursday 24th February 2005

ID CARDS WILL UNDERMINE HALF A CENTURY OF CIVIL LIBERTIES
- Greens call for Parliament to vote to oppose unworkable, costly, ineffective scheme

Green MSPs will today (24th February) call for a parliamentary vote against the Westminster imposition of ID cards in Scotland. (1)

Greens are opposed to the introduction of the Identity Card and Database scheme proposed by Westminster as a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation, and on the grounds of their threat to civil liberties, cost, workability and exacerbating discrimination against minority groups. There is also growing political opposition to ID cards in Scotland, including from Labour’s coalition partner, the Libdems.

Patrick Harvie MSP, Green Speaker on Justice and Communities, said: “Fifty three years ago, the UK abolished identity cards, which had slowly crept into many areas of life. Labour’s new bill is a backward step which offers no real benefit to our society.

“The politics of fear have been used to convince people that ID cards are needed. In reality, they will offer no protection against terrorism. The argument about benefit fraud is a mere distraction - the Government should be more concerned about ensuring that the benefits people are entitled to are actually claimed. (2)

“The cost, at £5.5 billion and rising is a waste of money and there is little evidence that the scheme would work effectively in any of the ways that its proponents suggest. We can only guess at the final cost.

“It is unacceptable that the government has exacerbated and exploited public fears over terrorism, crime and public service abuse to justify ID card introduction.”

Many of the most serious concerns over civil liberties surround the use of the National Identity Database rather than the cards themselves. Although the Executive has said that Scottish citizens will not be required to use an ID card to gain access to devolved public services, Greens are pressing for the Executive to make a full statement on the intended use of the database by devolved institutions.

A protest will take place outside the front public entrance of the Scottish Parliament prior to the debate where larger-than-life-size ID cards will be destroyed by Patrick Harvie MSP, who intends not to participate in their introduction. Greens will also unveil a new poster for their anti-ID card campaign which is a parody of a New Labour election poster. (3)

Mr Harvie concluded: “The Labour Party has been trying to convince us that things have only got better since their election. But in relation to human rights and civil liberties, they have been taking some deeply regressive steps, and Greens will certainly expose this in the forthcoming election campaign.

Greens argue that ID cards will:

Be costly and impractical:
There is scepticism about the cost and operability of the scheme(£5.5bn and rising), as well as the government’s ability to manage the technology. Large government IT projects are renowned for cost over-runs and technical hitches. This will be the most ambitious such project in history.

Lead to loss of privacy:
There will be a massive database containing an unprecedented amount of personal information on people.

Worsen harassment of minority groups:
They’ll provide another pretext for stop-and-search, often directed at ethnic minorities

Have little impact on counter-terrorism:
Terrorist networks would soon be able to produce counterfeit cards or papers enabling people to get legitimate cards. While Home Secretary, David Blunkett admitted that it would be possible to register for a card using a false identity, but was satisfied that a person would then “be stuck with it for life”. How much of a problem would this really be for a suicide bomber?

Have little effect on illegal working:
Employers who are already willing to break the law won’t be put off by identity cards.

Be subject to ‘function creep’:
The functions of the card will grow over time as it stores more personal information. More agencies will demand to see it, effectively making it necessary for people to carry one.

For further information contact the Green MSP Press Office on 0790 99 33 074

Notes

(1) Motion for debate on Thursday 24th February 10.30am:

*S2M-2463 Patrick Harvie: Identity Cards—That the Parliament notes the Identity Cards Bill currently being considered by the Westminster Parliament; is concerned at the lack of time devoted to the scrutiny of this Bill, which has left important questions unanswered over how the identity card scheme will work in practice; believes the proposals to be flawed on political, technical and financial grounds; is concerned that the national identity card and database offer an ineffective response to problems of security and fraud and pose an unacceptable threat to civil liberties; notes that the current cost estimate for the scheme is £5.5 billion and that further escalation of this cost is expected; rejects the Prime Minister’s belief, stated on 1 December 2004 in the House of Commons, that “it is legitimate and right, in this day and age, to ask people to carry identity cards” which appears to go far beyond the current scope of the Bill and would require the consent of the Scottish Parliament; welcomes the Scottish Executive’s position that identity cards will not be required to allow access to devolved public services, and calls on the Executive to make a full statement on the intended use of the identity database by devolved institutions.
Supported by: Robin Harper*, Mark Ballard*

(2) Whilst Charles Clarke has said that “Some £50 million a year is claimed illegally from the benefits system alone through the use of false identities” (and unclear on what basis this figure is arrived at) yet the total level of unclaimed benefit (Income Support, Minimum Income Guarantee, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit & income-based Jobseekers Allowance) in 2002/03 was between £3 300 million and £6 260 million according to the DWP whilst the level of non-takeup for non-pensioner income support and JSA is between £860million and £2140 million. (see p3 of NSPR080205.pdf).

(3) Photocall this morning at 10am as notified yesterday. For information about No2ID go to: www.no2id.net

NEWS RELEASE -Challenge to Minister on cancer-causing pollution

Ministers are not taking the threat of air pollution in Glasgow seriously enough, Green MSP Patrick Harvie has warned.

The Glasgow MSP challenged the Deputy Health Minister in Parliament today to take action on recent research which suggests that some cancer in children is caused by poor air quality. The MSP’s challenge fell on deaf ears as Rhona Brankin, the Deputy Health Minister, said she was content to allow the Department of Health’s Committee on Carcinogenicity to review the evidence in due course.

Mr Harvie spoke out after a report by Professor Knox at Birmingham University found that children born within a 1km radius of air pollution hotspots were two to four times more likely than average to die of cancer before reaching the age of 16 [1]. The report found that proximity to emissions of traffic fumes carried the highest risk.

Mr Harvie said, “A report with such serious implications as Professor Knox’s should be given proper consideration by the Scottish Executive. Glasgow has the second worst levels of air pollution in the whole of the UK [2] and many people are shocked to learn that air pollution, mainly from vehicle exhausts, kills more people every year than die in road accidents, killing more than 600 a people a year in the Central Belt alone [3].

“The Scottish Executive is not prepared to take strong enough measures to tackle the city’s pollution crisis. The strategies they have designed in conjunction with Glasgow City Council to help combat the alarming levels of dangerous emissions completely lack ambition. Public health will suffer enormously unless we see a radical rethink of Executive policy.”

He continued, “The Scottish Executive’s own ‘Key Scottish Environment Statistics 2004’ show that alarmingly high levels of dangerous pollutants such as PM10, Nitrogen Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide Concentrations are endangering the health of people living in Glasgow. [4] Precisely how much more evidence does the Executive need before it tackles this ever-growing threat to the health of Glaswegians?”

Ends

For more information contact Fiona Barnes on 0131 348 6424 / 0141 332 6405 or Green MSPs press office on 0131 348 6360

Notes to Editors:

[1] ‘Childhood cancers and atmospheric carcinogens’ by Professor Knox

[2]

[3]

[4]