Norman, Liz

Norman, Liz

Liz Norman

3 June 2006Comment

It's been a rough few weeks for the Home Office. The furore over foreign criminals, followed by a row over the monitoring of newly released criminals on probation, a defeat over abuse of power in the Afghan hijackers case, and then, to cap it all, an ill judged remark over the number of illegal immigrants in Britain sparks a spat over immigration. Liz Norman reflects on how this catalogue of woes is being used to reinforce the ID card debate.

The government's response to the recent Home Office debacles has become all too predictable over the last nine years - promise new legislation, promise the repeal of the poor old Human Rights Act, and promise an ID card. This is a reactive government, not a proactive one.

The first two of these promises are easily dealt with; new legislation is likely to have little or no effect, and repeal of the Human Rights Act will still leave us subject to the European Convention on Human Rights…