Post by Taxigirl on Nov 11, 2003 19:01:49 GMT
All UK citizens could be forced to have some form of identity card by 2013, David Blunkett has said.
From 2007/8 all new passports and driving licences will include details such as eye recognition and fingerprints, said the home secretary.
Ministers say most people will have one of the voluntary documents by 2013 and then it could be made compulsory.
Mr Blunkett says the scheme is vital for fighting benefit fraud, immigration abuse and terrorism.
New Tory home affairs spokesman David Davis said the timescale for the introduction of the cards was a "10-year deferral" forced by cabinet splits over the issue.
He also raised fears about the way personal information could be used by government.
Under the plans people wanting to use the NHS, claim benefits or get a job would have to produce a valid card.
Basic information?
Mr Blunkett said that a National Identity Register would hold details of 60m people in the UK.
And while they will not be compelled to carry their ID, Mr Blunkett indicated mobile technology was on the way that could allow the authorities to access the central database and check people's details.
He insisted that only "basic information" would be held on database.
Mr Blunkett said that "minimal internal controls and strong borders" were no longer enough.
"An ID card is not a luxury or a whim - it is a necessity," he said.
"I know some people believe there is a sinister motive behind the cards; that they will be part of a Big Brother state.
"This is wrong - only basic information will be held on the ID card database - such as your name, address, birthday and sex.
"It will not have details of religion, political beliefs, marital status or your health records."
He claimed independent research showed that eight out of 10 members of the public backed ID cards.
But his Lib Dem opposite number, Mark Oaten, said there had been "major flaws" in a Home Office consultation exercise.
He suggested that 5,000 unfavourable responses had been excluded because officials "decided to ignore" them as they had been submitted through an anti-ID card website.
Mr Oaten said the Home Office claimed they received only 2,000 responses to the consultation when in fact there had been more than 7,000.
Mr Davis said Mr Blunkett had called for a debate on the issue "but the loudest debate I have witnessed is the internal argument in the government, usually conducted by leaks to the Sunday newspapers".
In his interview with Today, Mr Blunkett gave an insight into cabinet divisions over ID cards.
The home secretary likened the opposition he faced from fellow ministers to that experienced by Barbara Castle when she tried to overhaul industrial relations in the 1960s.
In 1969 her 'In Place of Strife" white paper aimed to limit union power but was opposed by future prime minister Jim Callaghan.
Clandestine
Mr Blunkett said that the failure to tackle union power came back to haunt Mr Callaghan and led to Labour losing the 1979 election.
"Last week we avoided what the Labour government had to cope with 35 years ago," he told the programme.
"We avoided me becoming the Barbara Castle of 2003 and had Barbara Castle got her way over In Place of Strife ... believe me we would have won the 1979 election and Margaret Thatcher would not have been prime minister."
Countries with ID cards
Belgium
France
Germany
Netherlands
Portugal
The UK's most senior police officer said at the weekend that although he used to be against the idea of compulsory ID cards, he now believed they were "essential" in the fight against terrorism.
Sir John Stevens, head of the Metropolitan Police Service, said they should be introduced urgently.
But there is opposition from among Labour MPs, with former Home Office Minister Barbara Roche saying there were civil liberties concerns.
Ms Roche told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "I am really not convinced that the cost implications of an exercise on this scale would really lead down the line to a really valuable weapon in the fight against crime and terrorism."
Mark Littlewood, from campaign group Liberty, said the proposals had been watered down but predicted Mr Blunkett would struggle to get his plans implemented before the next election.
ID cards - key facts
From 2007-2008 new passports and driving licences will include biometric data
By 2013 it is estimated 80% of adults will have biometric passports or driving licences
4.6m foreign nationals living in UK among first to register on database from 2007-2008.
Introduction of separate ID cards from 2007/8
Costs of setting up the system over next three years £186m
The total cost will be £3bn