http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/politics/4577087.stm
The BBC
Wednesday, 25 May, 2005, 15:23 GMT 16:23 UK
Blair defends identity card plan
ID cards are needed to stop the soaring costs of identity theft, Prime
Minister Tony Blair has said as plans for a national scheme were
reintroduced.
The plan is for cards to be phased in from 2008, and made compulsory later.
The Tories will join Lib Dems and some Labour MPs to oppose cards unless it
is conclusively proved they are needed.
Critics say the cost of the scheme has already risen since November, and
say Mr Blair has cited ID theft as other reasons have failed to win backing.
Passport costs
The Home Office will not put a figure on the cost of setting up the scheme,
saying it is commercially sensitive.
But the scheme will cost an estimated £584m to run every year - a cost of
£93 per card, compared with an estimated cost of £85 per card in November.
Ministers stress they have not yet decided what fees people would have to
pay for the cards.
ID CARDS BILL INCLUDES:
* Covers whole UK
* Establishes national ID register
* Powers to issue ID cards
* Ensures checks can be made against other databases to cross
check
people's ID
* Lists safeguards on the sort of data that can be held
* New criminal offence of possessing false ID documents
* Provides a power to make it compulsory in the future to register
and be issued with an ID cards
Discounts would be available to some card holders but Home Office Minister
Tony McNulty refused to speculate whether other people would have to pay
more than £93.
He said the latest cost estimate was more robust than the figure given
last November.
And he argued that 70% of the cost would be spent on new biometric
passports whether or not ID cards were introduced.
New protections?
The latest Identity Cards Bill was published on Wednesday but it contains
only minor amendments to the plans which were dropped when the election
was called.
Changes include giving more responsibilities to the watchdog charged with
overseeing the scheme and new checks on which government agencies can
access ID card information.
Mr McNulty said: A secure compulsory national identity cards scheme will
help tackle illegal immigration, organised crime, ID fraud, terrorism and
will benefit all UK citizens.
The results of a trial involving 10,000 volunteers were also published.
It said most people enrolled successfully on all the different types of
biometric scheme.
But iris scan technology was less successful with black people and people
aged over 59, said the report.
Mr McNulty denied the scheme was discriminatory and stressed the trials
were not designed to test the technology.
Those who know far more than I suggest that the technology is moving in
the right direction, he said.
'Machismo'
Earlier, the prime minister's spokesman said the longer the debate had run,
the more people had seen the benefits of ID cards.
People are recognising that identity is just as valuable as possessions,
he said, suggesting it could take 60 hours to restore a stolen identity.
The Conservatives initially voted for the ID card legislation in the last
Parliament but abstained in the key Commons vote.
They say the plans had to pass five tests, including whether the technology
works.
The Lib Dems say they are opposed to the plans in principle but spokesman
Mark Oaten seized on the latest cost figures.
We have always argued this is a project that is going to run out of
control financially, he said.
Labour backbencher Neil Gerrard said opinion polls suggesting public
support for ID cards would change once people knew the costs and if the
scheme became compulsory.
Shami Chakrabarti, from civil rights group Liberty, urged MPs to reject
what she said was a rehashed bill that is more about political machismo
than rational policy.
The group says Mr Blair is focusing on identity theft after trying to
justify the cards on the grounds of tackling terrorism, illegal immigration
and organised crime.
--
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