No2ID appoints parliamentary spokesman

Lib Dem Matthew Taylor named in role

By Lucy Sherriff • Get more from this author

Posted in ID, 21st September 2005 10:37 GMT

Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor and MP for Truro and St Austell, has joined anti-OID card campaigners No2ID as the group's official Parliamentary spokesman.

Taylor will advocate for the group in the House of Commons, as well as with broadcast media, and will head up the campaign's team of spokespeople in the run up to the Third Reading of the ID card bill.

He argues that the threat posed by ID cards transcends party politics., and describes the government's plans as an "illiberal and utterly unjustifiable attack on our way of life".

"Government plans for ID cards and the compulsory registration of everyone in the country will permanently undermine civil liberties in Britain," he said, adding that he is looking forward to working with MPs of all parties to defeat the bill.

No2ID claims broad, cross party, support within the House of Commons: the group's head honcho Phil Booth says MPs from all parties, except the UUP will speak for the group in parliament. However, Taylor is the first officially appointed spokesman.

"Matthew brings to the campaign his extensive experience of both politics and the media, at a time when the political landscape is shifting," Booth told us.

"A known figure, with his passionate commitment to a liberal (in the broadest sense of the word) society and vehement opposition of the Government's authoritarian agenda, we hope that Matthew will help broaden NO2ID's appeal and take our message to an even wider audience." ®