UK flag row blocks ID card
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Your support makes all the difference.Plans for a voluntary identity card were last night becoming bogged down in a row over an alleged veto on the use of the Union Flag.
An initial hold-up developed last week when it was reported that the British ID card would include the 12-star insignia of the European Union.
That triggered an instant demand from Conservative Euro-phobes that the EU symbol should be dropped, or, at the very least, that the UK flag should also be displayed.
But it was reported yesterday that the Northern Ireland Office had raised an objection to that, pointing out the sensitivity of the nationalist community to the Union Flag - seen as the symbol of Ulster Unionism.
The compromise appears to be that whether the EU symbol appears or not, the "Britishness" of the card will be represented by the royal crest that features prominently on all passports.
However, that idea has further stoked the wrath of some Tory MPs. The backbencher Nicholas Winterton said: "This is our national flag and if people don't want to live in this country they can get out ... I am proud of this country. We fought under the Union Jack in the war, not the royal crest."
David Wilshire, the vice-chairman of the Tory backbench Northern Ireland committee, said: "It is staggering. It shows the extent to which the British government is prepared to appease and sell out to Dublin.
"The English will not tolerate being told that we cannot display our United Kingdom status because a few hundred thousand people will not like it."
There was also a suggestion that the fee to be charged for the ID card could also meet resistance, although there is an existing administrative charge for passports, which suggests that ID card opponents are seeking any weapon to further their campaign.
Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, said in a BBC radio interview on Saturday that the card would be a UK identity card. "It is not going to be a European identity card," he said.
Whitehall sources said last night that John Major would be discussing the problems of the card and its design, possibly today. Mr Howard had initially hoped to make an announcement early this week.
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