Yes, we know this isn’t a blog about British politics but we couldn’t help notice the news out of London today.

Under the new power-sharing agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, the British government will toss a long-controversial plan to implement a mandatory national identity card scheme in the UK into the rubbish bin.

The idea had been batted around since the mid-1990s as a way to combat terrorism and growing immigration to the UK. But after a decade and a half of trying and widespread public opposition to the plan, everybody pretty much agrees it’s a bloody failure.

As Senator Schumer and his allies in Congress consider immigration reform legislation, they’d be well-served to take a peak across the pond and see how well a national ID plan worked for the Labour party: They got the boot in the last election (and I don’t mean the trunk of a car).