Questions about fundamental rights and freedoms have come into sharp focus as we fight Covid, and cannot be dodged
For the second time in my adult life, I feel we must have a national conversation about domestic compulsory ID. Last time, in the mid-00s, it was an authoritarian solution looking for a problem to fix, with immigration, benefit fraud and everything but climate change proffered as justification. This time the problem posed by the government’s catastrophic “economy first” approach to pandemic management is all too clear. Still, the introduction of an internal passport will be just as costly, divisive and counterproductive as before – and even more dangerous to any way of life worth fighting for beyond this terrible time.
Many people will have watched the government flip-flopping over whether some kind of public or commercially sourced proof of vaccination status should be required before access to a whole host of everyday activities from attending a nightclub or sports event to a trip to the pub or the shops. There have been similarly mixed messages about whether the introduction of such a regime should be left to businesses to decide on and regulate for themselves.
