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The Home Office has won a green light to precede with Europe’s biggest ever IT procurement project after ministers rejected an attempt to make national identity cards voluntary. Gathering yesterday in the House of Commons, ministers pushed through the controversial Identity Cards Bill by majority of 31, to lay the groundwork for Britain’s first ID card system in 50 years. The victory for the government over both the House of Lords and its own backbench MPs means the state can press ahead with the £5.8bn computer project, to issue the first biometric identifiers within the next two years. Under the Bill, all Britons applying for a new passport in 2008 will be issued a compulsory identity card and a biometric passport, at an estimated cost of £93. The London School of Economics debates this price tag, saying in light of the government’s decision to withhold an official budget by KPMG; cost per taxpayer could reach £300. Last week, the Lords voted to block the compulsory issuing of ID cards, citing it as unfair that they should be imposed on people renewing residency permits or passports. However, as the bill stands, individuals renewing or applying for a passport will now have their personal and biometric details automatically logged into the National Identity Register from 2008. Critics have condemned the plans for such a forced provision of ID cards, which contradicts the Labour manifesto of initial roll out on a voluntary basis, branding it “creeping compulsion” David Davies, the Shadow Home Secretary, said pushing ID cards through the back door is the only route for such a disliked and controversial piece of legislation. It is a case of “covert, creeping compulsion" he said, “because ministers realise that their expensive, cumbersome system will never be popular, making it necessary to get people signed up whether they like it or not. “Establishing a national database would create the most attractive possible target for every fraudster, terrorist, confidence trickster and hacker on the planet,” he said. The Identity Cards Bill will now return to the House of Lords, where Mr Davies, joined by anti-ID card lobbyists, hopes that peers will stop Britain “sleepwalking into the surveillance state.” Feb 15, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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