The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has revealed that immigrants to the European Union will soon be required to possess a new British identity card, before they will be permitted to work or claim benefits within the United Kingdom. British citizens applying for a new passport from 2008 will be issued with a national identity card, but the card itself won't become compulsory for all British citizens to own until 2010. But in 2008 the card will be compulsory to own if you are from outside the European Union and you plan on staying in the UK. This article written by the Prime Minister himself spells out his vision for the future of "Brave New Britain", and I must say, I didn't think we were as far on as the Prime Minister believes...

Quote: "Biometric visas and residence cards are central to our plans and will be introduced ahead of ID cards. I also want to see ID cards made compulsory for all non-EU foreign nationals looking for work and when they get a National Insurance number... 
Biometric technology will enable us, in a relatively short period of time, to cut delays, improve access and make secure a whole array of services... 
There are three main lines of attack - the civil liberties argument, effectiveness and cost. I know this will outrage some people but, in a world in which we daily provide information to a whole host of companies and organisations and willingly carry a variety of cards to identify us, I don't think the civil liberties argument carries much weight...
We will have no choice but to have a biometric passport, if we want to travel abroad. The United States has started to require them. This will soon be the case throughout the world.

I am very concerned at the Tony Blair's views. Earlier in the year the House of Lords narrowly defeated the Prime Minister's attempts to bring in a compulsory national identity card by the back door. A compromise plan was adopted and the date for introducing the compulsory cards was pushed back to 2010. But it looks like Tony Blair is up to his old tricks again, trying to bring in his national ID card through the back door.

Once again the Prime Minister has thrown caution to the wind, and completely disregarded the legitimate fears of those who feel accepting a card is infringing on their civil liberties, saying our arguments "don't carry much weight". The fact that he declares this as a "line of attack" shows that he believes it is his personal mission to bring in these cards, and that those who disagree with him are wrong. A similar attitude was taken by the Labour government over the Incitement to Religious Hatred bill last year. He emphasizes the benefits of the card in cutting waiting times, fraud and terrorism, while improving security and access to important information. While that may be true, there is no doubt big retail firms will push those advantages on us to help them save money, and those who don't wish to be a part of this "Beast" system will become second class citizens. And finally, if you've any more objections, don't bother. Tony Blair says that this system will soon be used throughout the world, so essentially, "like it or lump it". Friends, I think there is no doubt, the implementation of a global identification system is well underway, and it may be only a few years before someone decides that cards are not secure enough.

Revelation 19:20 
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Source Telegraph, Bloomberg