Backbytes: Scotland's government resurrects national ID card scheme

One identity database to rule them all under SNP plan encompassing child informants

The greatest absurdity in politics is how much faith people routinely invest in political parties and politicians, only to have their hopes and expectations dashed every time. And it doesn't matter what colour the party or what they profess to believe in: underneath every politician's whispering warm and re-assuring words is an authoritarian control-freak with a collection of dodgy mates and even dodgier ideas.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Scotland's SNP government has proved to be even more insanely authoritarian than the Labour establishment it usurped. Now, in addition to laws that will turn every child into a state informer, it's also resurrecting old plans to introduce a national ID register, which will form the backbone, no doubt, of a forthcoming ID card scheme.

The proposals are sneakily hidden away in a minor consultation document regarding the NHS Central Register in Scotland, and have been described as indistinguishable from the UK-wide ID card plans that were killed off after the last general election.

The plan involves expanding the citizen reference number (UCRN) scheme, which is based on the registry of births and used to assess eligibility for student cards and bus passes, so that it would be available, initially, to every Scottish institution and local authority. In the process, it would link all the data that the public sector in Scotland holds on individuals and create a national identity register.

The proposal ties in with recent legislation passed by Scotland's SNP government to assign a "named person" to every child from birth until age 18 in the country. The named person would be able to access information about the child and their family from police, health authorities and other government bodies. They would act as both a confidante and an informant.

The plans will, no doubt, be good business for the usual people.