Cameron stands firm against ID cards

London Telegraph /George Jones | January 19 2006

David Cameron launched an all-out attack yesterday on the Government's plans for a national identity card scheme, telling Tony Blair it would become a "monument to the failure of big government".

He made clear that opposition to ID cards will be his first serious trial of strength with Mr Blair's Government.

After he became Tory leader, Mr Cameron said he would adopt a more constructive approach in Parliament and would back Mr Blair when he believed the Government was doing the right thing.

His predecessor, Michael Howard, favoured ID cards, having attempted to introduce them when he was Home Secretary in the last Conservative government.

At Prime Minister's questions, Mr Cameron challenged Mr Blair over the cost of introducing ID cards, which would be backed up by a nationwide data base containing biometric information such as iris scans and fingerprints.

In the Lords on Monday, Tory peers joined forces with Liberal Democrats and Labour rebels to delay the introduction of ID cards until the Government had carried out an independent assessment of the scheme.

Although the Government has vowed to reverse the defeat when the legislation returns to the Commons, many Labour MPs are known to be unhappy about the cost of the scheme.

The ID Cards Bill will face a further attack in the Lords next week, when peers are expected to remove from it the obligation to possess or acquire an ID card when applying for a passport.

Mr Cameron cited a report by the London School of Economics, which claims the scheme would cost between £10 billion and £19 billion over 10 years if the Government followed its original plans.

Mr Blair challenged the objectivity of the estimate, saying that report had been drawn up by someone who was a campaigner against ID cards on civil liberty grounds.

The Home Office estimates that the scheme will cost about £584 million to run each year, with each combined biometric passport and identity card costing £93. But, it has not given full cost estimates for setting up the scheme and says its overall costs will depend on how government departments choose to use the card scheme.

The Tory leader questioned how Mr Blair could justify spending at least £600 million a year on ID cards when there were rising deficits in the NHS, huge costs of pension reform and tighter pressures on public spending.

He said the cards would not be introduced until 2013. The money being spent on the scheme could provide 20,000 extra police officers or pay for 24-hour security at ports. The eventual costs were likely to be higher because almost every government IT programme had over-run.

Mr Blair said: "In today's world, if we want to tackle illegal migration, crime and identity fraud, then using the new biometric technology to have ID cards is an important part of doing so." Mr Cameron, pointing to reports that Gordon Brown was opposed to ID cards, asked if the scheme would go ahead when the Chancellor succeeded Mr Blair.

Mr Brown, sitting alongside the Prime Minister on the front bench, nodded vigorously as Mr Blair replied: "I certainly can give a guarantee that the Government as a whole is absolutely behind identity cards."

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