[user104658]

Originally Posted by Livia

I'm all for ID cards for everyone... although not with iris scans and fingerprints etc Blair had proposed. That's just too far.

My main contention would be, though, they would have to be free... And if they can do free ID cards for all, then why not simply give out full passports for free instead of charging £80 . My guess would be that it's not secure to do that and global passport standards require too much checking to be feasible without a charge, but then if that is the case, what's the point of a free mandatory ID card that doesn't have a high standard of security; or at least less than would be required for currently valid photo ID.

So really the only way they could do mandatory ID for voting, is to use the current paths to getting ID - all of which come with a fee. And while it may be a relatively small fee in the grand scheme of things... No matter how small it is, it is a financial barrier to voting. "Pay to vote" in a roundabout way. A bit of a disaster for the whole concept of democracy... But I guess we're a long way down that rabbit hole already.