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Passport plans an excuse to bring Big Brother to a town near you

February 19, 2007 12:00 AM

Commenting on the plans to change the way in which applications for a first passport are treated and the centres that are being set up across the UK, President of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes MP said:

"The latest plans for passport offices across the land are the best example of the Government wanting to bring the Big Brother state to a town near you.

"If we didn't have the extremely expensive and unnecessary plans for ID cards, then we wouldn't need a whole new set of people, offices and costs to issue passports for British citizens when they go abroad.

"The best way of dealing with passport fraud is to have effective controls at all borders and catch people on the way in or on the way out."

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