Public ID card support drops
Public support for ID cards has dramatically dropped amid fears of rising costs and administrative problems, a new poll has found.
A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph reveals that just 45 per cent of the public support the controversial scheme, down from 78 per cent less than two years ago.
The government’s ability to deliver on the scheme is a particular area of disquiet, with only one in ten people polled saying they believed the scheme could be introduced efficiently.
A further 84 per cent thought they would bring “disruption and inconvenience”.
Criticism of the ID card scheme has been mounting, spurred on by a report from the London School of Economics (LSE) that last week predicted ID cards could cost up to £300 per person.
However, home secretary Charles Clarke at the time dismissed the report as a “technically incompetent piece of work”, telling MPs that it would be “ridiculous” to have an expensive card that people would have to buy.
The ID cards bill passed its second reading last week by 314 votes to 283, after Mr Clarke won over wavering MPs with promises of more rigorous measures to protect privacy.
However, anti-ID card campaign group NO2ID believes public support for the scheme will continue to drop, saying the poll, which comes as MPs begin detailed discussion of ID cards bill, was no surprise.
“These numbers are to be expected. The support for ID cards has been steadily dropping over the last few years, especially since the election,” spokesman Michael Parker told politics.co.uk.
“The cost is a problem but that’s not the prime reason why people object to it. The idea of a single organ of government being able to hold the key to our lives – people are uneasy about that.”
