Lords scrutinise ID cards bill
Peers in the House of Lords will today begin their detailed examination of the identity cards bill.
During the two-day committee stage, the Lords will go through the controversial legislation line by line and raise any objections to specific proposals.
The ID card programme – which would be voluntary at first, but then become compulsory – would see the creation of a national database of personal information, including biometric data such as eye colour and fingerprints.
Civil libertarians are concerned about who will have access to this database – although ministers insist no sensitive information will be held – while there are also questions about the government’s ability to manage such a huge project.
Home Office minister Tony McNulty has already admitted “difficulties” in recording biometric data on the cards, and concerns remain about how much the scheme would cost.
A report earlier this year from the London School of Economics suggested the cost of a combined ID card and passport could be as much as £300.
The Home Office refutes this and says its estimate of £93 for the combined card, and £30 for the stand-alone ID card is largely backed up by a recent government-commissioned report by KPMG.
Overall, however, ministers argue the cards are necessary to tackle illegal immigration, fraud, and for reasons of national security – despite Mr McNulty’s admission earlier this year that they may have “oversold” the scheme’s benefits.
This morning the leader of the Conservatives in the Lords outlined his problems with the bill, although he took pains to note that this was not the view of all Tories in the upper House.
“I do not think they are going to work, I think they are extremely expensive and the government has never really explained what they are for,” Lord Strathclyde told The Daily Politics.
Over the next few weeks, he said, peers were going to “test the government, to try to get answers”.
Speaking on the same programme, however, former chief constable and now Labour peer Lord Mackenzie said the cards would be of great use to police and security services in tackling terrorism and organised crime.
“The type of ID cards that we are talking about is virtually impossible to forge. There are 13 different biometric identifiers. Nowhere in Europe has that at the present time,” he said.
“I accept that ID cards are not the silver bullet by any means, but they will be a great assistance to the police.”
