Identity crisis.

Beware the Immigration and Citizenship Bill which the government intend to introduce in this Parliament. Ostensibly, it is designed, among other things, to allow the police and immigration authorities to keep a closer check on those who have come into the country from elsewhere by being given the power to require them to prove their identity on demand. But a close examination of the wording of the Bill reveals that this power is to apply to anyone who "has entered the UK", and clearly this could extend to anyone who has gone abroad - for work or on holiday - and then come back. It is to be hoped that the Bill will be amended to make it clear that it does not apply to UK citizens, but to simply assume that this power would never be used in this way would be disingenuous, given the way in which the prevention of terrorism legislation has been, and continues to be used for purposes well outside its originally intended ambit.