Reply #2: England: Blair Majority Slashed to 25 After Rebellion over Voter ID Card [View All]

[autorank]

Tony, Tony, Tony…you are an ass. Our favorite presidential poodle has lost a chunk of his slim majority for trying to shove national Voter ID’s down the throats of his subjects. The Labour Party left is finally rebelling. It means the same thing there that it means here, voter suppression.

ID card rebellion slashes majority to 25

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article320548.ece

By Ben Russell and Nigel Morris
Published: 19 October 2005

Tony Blair's majority was slashed to 25 last night after a series of rebellions over controversial plans for identity cards. Despite a chorus of criticism the ID Cards bill passed its final Commons stages by 309 votes to 284, but the party's 66-strong majority slumped to its lowest level since the general election.

Twenty five Labour MPs rebelled, including the former ministers Clare Short, Kate Hoey, Glenda Jackson and Mark Fisher. Earlier, Labour rebels helped halve the Government's majority as they attempted to wreck the ID Cards Bill with two key amendments during an angry day-long debate.

The Bill now passes to the House of Lords, where the project is expected to encounter strong opposition.

Twenty one Labour MPs voted against the Government to back a rebel motion attempting to prevent ministers forcing people to register for an ID card when renewing passports or driving licences, cutting the Government's majority to 32.

In a second vote on a rebel attempt to make ID cards free of charge, rebels cut Labour's majority to 33.

Edward Garnier, the shadow Home Office minister, condemned the proposals as " an obscene and absurd".