"Whenever politicians run out of road in trying to solve a problem, it’s never long before the introduction of ID cards rears its ugly head"
Telegraph: 6th June 2025: PopCon's Mark Littlewood argues that we need to get back to basics to tackle immigration, rather than reaching for ID cards.
"The mild weather has, we are told, exacerbated the problem of small boats crossing the English Channel. The pledge to “smash the gangs” is no longer being repeated endlessly by Labour spokespeople (perhaps the recent sunny weather distracted Border Force?)
But fear not. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has a plan. She thinks a gigantic governmental IT project is what is now needed to get a grip on the explosion in immigration.
Whenever politicians run out of road in trying to solve a problem, it’s never long before the introduction of ID cards rears its ugly head.
The way ID schemes work is to split the population into two cohorts – one which is entitled to something and one which isn’t...
...Three problems immediately emerge. First, the law-abiding majority are obliged to undertake an ever-increasing number of checks and tests to go about their ordinary lives.
Second, it assumes that the people you want to collar are not adept at melting into the black market economy. How many employers are hiring large numbers of illegal immigrants unknowingly and were genuinely just about to get round to making sure they all had the right to work here? None.
Third, it relies on the state actually operating a complex IT system successfully. We have surely learnt over recent years that in the vast number of ways the government is able to waste huge tranches of taxpayers’ money, botched IT projects are probably top of the list...
...to tackle the immigration disaster, we need to get back to basics. The vast numbers of people coming to our shores are doing so because enforcement is weak, the legal system is soft and the incentives to come here are too great. If you are unwilling or unable to deal with those root causes, there is no database – however magical you may imagine it to be – that will be of much assistance...
The reason we have failed to deport many undesirables...because our asylum system works at a snail’s pace, allows fatuous appeals under human rights legislation, and the package of goodies you receive while you are here is too good to resist..."