15 June 2010 – AGM and celebration
Five years after the group was formed, this was a celebratory meeting following the government's plans to abolish ID cards. The NO2ID balloons were getting their first use.
John Welford, David Muxworthy and John Wood were again re-elected as Edinburgh group coordinator, secretary and treasurer respectively.
The meeting was followed by a meal and celebration at the Beehive in the Grassmarket.
Looking back over the year
We discussed matters matters at three levels: UK, Scottish and local.
Although a bill to abolish ID cards had been introduced in the House of Commons on 9 June (and had now gone to committee), Phil Booth the National NO2ID coordinator had pointed out that there were still major problems with the proposals, for example that passport data could be shared and that ID cards for foreign nationals were still in place.
The Scottish government had taken identity management seriously and had established a group to formulate principles; it had yet to report. The 2011 Scottish election could bring about changes in policy.
Locally, the year had been noticeable for the refusal of Labour MPs to talk to the group. One of the memorable meetings had been that with the robotic display by Chris Halliday. The weekly stall had continued, helping to maintain a high public profile for our campaign.
Looking forward
There were matters still to be addressed, including:
- cleaning up the Identity Documents Bill
- considering concerns over medical records
- use of automatic number plate recognition
- child fingerprinting
At the Scottish level, the group would be looking out for publication of the Identity Management principles, the questions which were to be asked in the 2011 census, and the result of the Holyrood election.
Locally, it was hoped that some of the new MPs would talk to the group. The stall would continue and there might be rebranding to shift the emphasis towards the database state and the National Entitlement Card.