I cannot argue with the very early decision by Andy Burnham to fund a little more help with the cost of living by reducing VAT on electricity bills, by dropping the digital I.D. cards plan.

I think there was always a risk of government over reach, allowing government and companies to gather information about everyone, including their movements and activities. I don’t have a high level of trust that the information gathered would always be secure and not subject to hacking.

I think it would have created a reliance on one method of proving identity that is the equivalent of putting all your eggs in the one basket and setting things up for a catastrophic failure should the system ever be breached.

As a Councillor, I am already finding that many of the residents I look after are unhappy about digital exclusion. Not everybody uses a computer or smartphone. I am against making it compulsory to do so. We should always have services available and accessible to those who choose not to, or cannot use digital systems.

These things are often introduced as a voluntary thing, but may later become compulsory, especially if we have a government which is less liberal and more authoritarian.

What with a promise of a ten year plan, an indication of a cross party approach, a commitment to end rough sleeping…. not a bad start…. although worth pointing out that “northern”, “raising taxes” and “socialism” aren’t things that go down well in this area.

Let’s see how things progress….