Alistair Carmichael MP (Liberal Democrat) MP for Orkney & Shetland. Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Before being elected to Parliament Alistair was a solicitor and also a hotel manager.

Identity cards

Against ID card. He has spoken at No2ID events.

After Discgate he said 12 December 2007

"The proposed ID card scheme hinges on the Government's ability to keep personal data safe. It's hard to imagine that even the most enthusiastic promoters of ID cards will see their introduction as a good idea now."

Link

Alistair Carmichael MP Website
Alistair Carmichael MP TheyWorkForYou.com
Alistair Carmichael MP Wikipedia
Alistair Carmichael MP Liberal Democrats Profile

News

2007-12-12 - Liberal Democrat press release - Data loss undermines ID cards: Author: Alistair Carmichael MP; Summary: Commenting on news that unencrypted discs containing the personal details of over 7,500 people have been lost by the DVLA, Liberal Democrat Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Alistair Carmichael MP said "The political damage caused by yet another data breach will be significant." "It is now clear that the Government's mishandling of personal data is not just a one off incident. Departments are proving remarkably cavalier in the way they handle important information." "The proposed ID card scheme hinges on the Government's ability to keep personal data safe. It's hard to imagine that even the most enthusiastic promoters of ID cards will see their introduction as a good idea now."

2007-07-16 - Liberal Democrats - Scottish ballot paper move welcome: Author: Alistair Carmichael MP; Summary: The House of Commons will on Tuesday debate a measure to allow the release of Scottish election ballot papers to the independent investigation led by Ron Gould. The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for the release of the ballots since the problems with the conduct of the election became clear. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scottish Secretary, Alistair Carmichael MP said: "There is an urgent need to get to the bottom of what went wrong with the Scottish election." "It is ludicrous to imagine that a proper investigation could take place without the investigators having the opportunity to view the ballot papers in question." "These ballots should have been made available as soon as the scale of the problems became clear." "It is to be hoped that the Scotland Office will be more proactive in establishing any future needs and wishes of the Gould Inquiry than they have been in relation to the ballot papers."

2006-02-14 - The Register - ID Card costs escape scrutiny: Author: Mark Ballard; Summary: Parliament has scrapped House of Lords amendments that would have demanded strict scrutiny on the proposed ID Cards system. ... Warnings about the proposed ID Card system have been raised in a Gateway Review, but Parliament has not been given any information about any dangers that may have been identified. Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael joined Labour's Mark Todd in saying that government fell too readily on the defence of 'commercial in confidence' as an excuse for not allowing proper Parliamentary scrutiny of expensive and troublesome IT project

2006-02-03 - The Register - UK.gov inflates ID theft risk: Author: John Leyden; Summary: A Home Office study claims ID fraud costs Britain £1.7bn. But most of these losses have either been overstated or represent nothing to do with ID fraud, an investigation by Silicon.com has discovered. ... "On the one hand the government’s figures are full of holes. On the other, they are peddling claptrap about the effectiveness of an ID card in combating identity fraud,", said MP Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman. "For example, it is impossible to see how an ID card would reduce credit card fraud unless we are going to be expected to show our ID card every time we make a purchase."

2005-06-21 - The Register - Even Bigger Brother: Author: John Leyden; Summary: No2ID, the national coalition against ID cards, is to hold a free public meeting about the UK government's controversial ID card plans. ... Speakers at the event come from across the UK's political spectrum ... including Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael.