Anti National ID petition in Britain closed by PM Blair

I usually do not have much time to consider what is going on in our sister nation: Britain. However, a friend sent me a link that I could not ignore. Prime Minister Blair apparently thinks that since criminals frequently use many identity cards, that a national identification card, with biometric info on it is a reasonable solution to identifying and finding criminals. UK's Blair Dismisses Online Anti ID-Card Petition I suspect that it is only really useful for identifying and finding law-abiding citizens.

The apparent premise (frequently used by our national ID supporters) is that if we only tighten up the law, the criminals will stop breaking them.

UK's Blair Responds to Online Anti ID-Card Petition. What? Since when?

Somewhere I saw some information on how much money each British identification card would cost. I recall that it was a lot of money, something on the order of $150 US equivalent.

So, will citizens of Britain have to present their national identification card to collect their welfare benefits?

After personally responding to a multitude of petition signers, PM Blair decided to shut down the petition website! I guess he did not want to know how many people really oppose a national ID in Britain!

Actually, I am truly suprised by the high number of petitions on the 10 Downing Street site.