Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television. In 2022, for example, shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the party was looking at mandatory cards “very, very carefully”. There was far more transparency and consideration shown two decades ago, when Labour last attempted to introduce identity cards, linked to a biometric database. They have united in condemning the new proposal, although for different reasons: nationalists mainly on national identity grounds, unionists more on civil liberties grounds, and Alliance on both. The history of the last scheme shows national identity concerns are straightforward to address and to reconcile with the Good Friday Agreement.