Is The UK Government Planning A "Fortress Mainland Britain"?

Here is some information from a UK Government site.

ID cards

ID cards will provide legal UK residents, including foreign nationals, with an easy and secure way of proving who they are.

ID cards will be linked to their owners by unique biometric identifiers (for example, fingerprints), which mean we will have a much stronger way of protecting people's identities. Background checks will ensure that claimed identities are real and not stolen, and will prevent criminals using multiple identities.

The exact format of an ID card isn’t yet decided but it’s likely that it will be a credit card-sized plastic card featuring the holder’s photograph and a computer chip storing basic personal information.
Who’ll be eligible for an ID card?

You will be eligible for an ID card if you are:

    *
      UK resident for three months or more
    *
      over the age of 16

When will ID cards be introduced?

Our decision to introduce a National Identity Scheme was announced in the Queen's Speech on 17 May 2005. The Identity Cards Act received royal assent, becoming law, on 30 March 2006.

We began introducing biometric residence permits for foreign nationals in 2008, and we expect the first ID cards to be issued to British citizens in 2009.
My Life, My ID

Starting in 2010, ID cards will be offered to young people on a purely voluntary basis.

In July 2008, the Home Secretary launched a website about identity for those aged 16-25. If you're in that age group, you can join the online discussion (new window), and tell us what you think about the programme.

Beins' as how this is the #1 story and a staff choice for that slot, don't you think that just maybe you could use Highlight tool just a wee little bit? For example, your closing paragraph is the complete first paragraph from the publication that wrote it and published it.

I really think that material in the white area, outside the highlight box, is viewed as original commentary and therefore well, it might be good if it were. It's easy enough to quote material, or use Highlight, and then add your own material.

Because I hope that staff will choose a direction for us (i.e. copy-and-paste Good Stuff, copy-and-paste in Higlight boxes GS if it's most or all of an article from another writer/stource), I'm going to paste the entire story from the BBC here. That's the only fair way to consider the question being raised.

From the BBC:

"The first formal border checks between Britain and the Irish Republic in more than 80 years have been proposed.

Full passport inspections could be part of the revisions, a Home Office consultation paper has said.

These would apply to those travelling by air and sea, but could also include more immigration checks between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

But the governments said there were no plans for fixed checkpoints to be reintroduced along that land border.

The scheme is expected to target attempted illegal immigration rather than domestic travellers.

The need to produce some proof of identity for travellers is aimed at foreign nationals rather than those living in the Common Travel Area (CTA), established in 1925.

As well as the UK and the Irish Republic, this area includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, where the enhanced checks would also be introduced.

Separate searches

The governments said checks would be made "on passengers and their documents" arriving and departing "on sea and air routes".

CTA residents and foreign passengers could be separated on arrival into channels similar to those already in place for European passengers on international flights.

The paper also suggested laws could be proposed to allow searches of vehicles travelling to and from the Irish Republic.

And airlines and ferry operators could be fined for carrying passengers to the UK who did not have appropriate documents, it added.

Measures including "state-of-the-art border technology, joint sea and port operations and the continued exchange of intelligence" would be used, according to a statement by UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Dermot Ahern, the Irish minister for justice, equality and law reform.

"We are both introducing electronic border management systems so we can count people in and out of the country, and identify those people who may be of interest to our law-enforcement authorities," the statement added.

"We are committed to preserving the Common Travel Area and its benefits for legitimate travellers."

In 2006 nearly 16 million passengers travelled by air and sea between Ireland and the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands."

Ya'll staffers just let us know, OK? Because there's a heap of confusion and confabulation about this. As an Okie, I think it's pretty clear cut, but then again, that's kinda how we'uns "hick" Okies are: straight shooters.  ;}

I've added links to two of the sources that I found that were quoted for this post. Infomatique, could you please include any additional ones? Thanks.

The third source was:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0724/border.html

The system is not accepting any edits from me.

Regards

This is the first time that I have seen SPAM here (okay I do get some private messages that are SPAM). BTW what does "Not Verified" mean? I have noticed many such posts today.

NB: SPAM now gone

It is worthwhile remembering that the UK is home to most of the global islamist terror plots, is home to an admitted 2,000 active terrorists, and has made little progress stopping the attempts to attack. The UK currently has no border controls and does not know how many people wander around within its borders. These are very late (2001 attacks are now many years in the past) and much-needed measures.