The Electoral Commission has called for reforms to the way ballot boxes are run in the UK in order to combat voting fraud. Apparently the voting system has seen little or no change in the way that it operates in the UK since the nineteenth century.
According to the Electoral Commission, voters should have to use photo ID cards to protect against voting fraud. They also stated that measures needed to be taken to restore the shattered public confidence in the voting system. One of the measures suggested was to have individual voter registration, as currently voter registration just goes on the head of the household.
Photo identification, such as the new government national identity cards, is one such way that voters would be able to confirm their identity at the polling stations. Northern Ireland already has a photo ID system in place at the ballet box, and the Electoral Commission suggested that it could work in the UK in conjunction with other types of ID, such as birth certificates or passports.
A new report has just been issued, titled “Electoral Administration In The UK”, which highlights all of the commission’s recommendations.
Eleanor Laing, the shadow justice minister, stated:
Individual electoral registration and accurate electoral registers are essential for a free and fair democratic process.
Gimmicks like weekend voting are pointless if the very foundations of our democracy are being called into question.
From November this year the UK government will be issuing identity cards to all foreign nationals. The plan has been heavily criticised by many, but what exactly are the benefits?
All businesses looking to hire foreign nationals will have to keep records of the people they hire, which needs to be made available upon request. The introduction of the National Identity Card will aid employers in the following ways:
- It will make it easier to provide the information and ease the burden of administration
- It will make it much simpler for employers to check the entitlements of their employees
- It will also ensure that anyone who is the country illegally doesn’t benefit from any privileges
The ID card will also help individuals in the following ways:
- It will provide the necessary proof of their rights to live in the UK
- It will help them prove their identity easily, whenever it is required
- It will also aid them in getting employment as employers can check their identity quickly and easily.
Dublin is a very popular destination for people travelling from the UK. It’s a great city that proves a hit with couples and groups looking for a good night out. Dublin is also very popular with hen nights and stag dos, as it’s one of the best drinking venues in Europe, and of course is home to Guinness.
However one thing you may not be sure of is whether you require a passport to travel to Dublin. In actual truth, you don’t need a passport to go to Dublin when travelling from the UK, but most airlines will ask you for some form of photo ID.
For example, you could use a drivers licence or any sort of identity card that carries your photograph. A passport would of course suffice, but you don’t technically need a passport for the trip. It’s just a form of photo ID that you require to travel from the UK to Dublin.
Although the British government is tightening security for foreign nationals coming in and out of the UK, it won’t mean a return to border control for Ireland. The UK government stated they’d be stepping up border control, which means among other things that people coming into the UK and leaving the country will be checked against certain watch lists for immigration.
A UK Border Agency spokesperson stated:
We are driving forward the biggest shake-up of border security for decades.
That’s why it is crucial that we continue to work closely with the governments of the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Island and the Isle of Man (the Common Travel Area) to tackle the major issues that face us today, from trafficking and terrorism to illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
We have launched our consultation on proposed changes to strengthen the Common Travel Area (CTA). We are keen to work closely with the travel industry, carriers, port operators and business on the impact of measures that we are proposing to strengthen our borders.
These new measures won’t affect the border between Northern and Southern Ireland however, nor will it affect travel between the UK and Ireland.
We have no intention of introducing fixed immigration controls on the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, or on routes between the Islands and UK.
Among the new measures include plans to introduce full immigration controls for anyone coming in to the UK and Ireland via sea or air. These measures include the introduction of identity cards for foreign nationals in the government’s national identity card scheme.
The government’s much berated National Identity Card scheme comes into play in November this year, which will lead eventually to every citizen in the UK being issued with an ID Card. However, initially the scheme will roll out gradually, so who will be effected first of all?
Initially non-EEA nationals who are permitted to remain in the UK for reasons such as marriage or education will be issued with ID cards.
The plan for issuing the cards was published in March this year, titled “Introducing Identity Cards for Foreign Nationals”. In the report it states that an estimated 90% of all foreign nationals in the UK will have a National Identity Card.
Next year the ID cards will be issued to workers in what are described as ‘sensitive areas’, which includes airports.
The following year will see ID cards offered to young people, then in 2011 the cards will be offered to the general British public.
Managing money is something that every student needs to get to grips with, and a new card is hoping to help them with that task. One4uni has setup the Boomerang card, which they hope will allow students to carry significantly less cards in their wallets.
With the help of Alliance & Leicester, the card is a combined bank card and a photo ID card. It can be used in cash machines, or to pay for goods in shops. Plus, it’s not actually connected to any bank so can be used, no matter who your account is with.
Andy Dagger from One4uni states:
The concept is about allowing students to manage their money better. Students are moving away from credit-based services because they hear horror stories about debt. This card is ideal for people who want to take full responsibility for managing their finances.
Even better for students is that parents are able to top the card up without having to be there. They can simply add credit to the card so that the student can spend it!
Also, the card doesn’t have any overdraft facility, which means that students don’t need to worry about going into debt when they use it.
A raid by police on a Chinese restaurant in Cowgate, Peterborough, has seen two illegal immigrants arrested. The Chinese restaurant in question was the Gourmet Plaza, and the raid was part of a crackdown by the UK Border Agency last Thursday.
Police raided the restaurant and checked the identity documents of everyone inside, resulting in two of the workers being identified as illegal immigrants.
One of the workers was a Malaysian who had a fake registration card, and the other was an illegal Chinese immigrant. Both were arrested and are being held at the police station while they are awaiting deportation.
Gail Adams from UK BA gave a warning to employers who employ illegal immigrants:
We will not tolerate illegal working, and are working hard to pull the plug on the illegal jobs which lure illegal immigrants to come to the UK in the first place.
Ignorance is not a defence. Businesses must prove that they have made the right checks before they employ migrant workers.
Illegal working is unfair on honest employers who recruit staff with the right to work in the UK and who pay them a proper salary.
There is currently a strong and public campaign promoting the penalties of employing illegal immigrants, which includes a fine of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker found in a business.
The national ID card scheme coming in soon is hoped to stamp out the flood of illegal immigrants working in the UK.
With the increased use of computers in today’s society and everything becoming digital, identity theft has become more and more a problem. Indeed someone could be a victim of identity theft and not realise the fact for several weeks.
Identity theft happens when someone steals aspects of your information in order to pose as you to apply for credit cards, take out loans in your name, or to take money directly from your bank account.
They get the money, you end up paying for it.
The worst part of it is that there’s very little in the way of evidence for anyone to prosecute or even find the culprits. There are even examples of entire identities being stolen.
In order to restrict the chances of you becoming a victim of identity theft or ID fraud, you should safeguard any documents that contain your address or any form of contact information. You should never dispose of anything with your address on it without first shredding or burning it, and you shouldn’t keep any information on your laptop computer or mobile phone.
Many people believe that the national identity card scheme that is being introduced by the UK government is a great risk for identity theft.
Identity theft is a big problem in the United States, and costs the country billions of dollars each year. Authorities in the US have charged eleven people in connection with the biggest ever ID theft case in the country’s history.
The identity theft focused on the theft of credit card details, over 40 million of them, which were then sold on for profit. According to the details, the people arrested had hacked into computers belonging to retailers in order to steal access data and passwords.
Of those charged with identity theft, only three were actually American citizens, the others came from China, Belarus, Estonia and the Ukraine. They also stole credit card details and passwords by access unsecured Wi-Fi points in people’s homes from outside of their houses.
If your wireless isn’t secure, anyone can access it and gain control of your computer.
This case has once again highlighted the dangers of securing your details and protecting them from identity theft.
