Labour steps back in push for ID cards (UK)

[Eugene]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1542191,00.html

Labour steps back in push for ID cards

Benefits were oversold and legislation is flawed, admits minister

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Thursday August 4, 2005
The Guardian

The government has admitted that it has been guilty of "overselling"
the case for a compulsory national identity card scheme in Britain and
conceded that it will not prove a panacea for fraud, terrorism or the
abuse of public services.

Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister now responsible for identity
cards, has also admitted that "in its enthusiasm" the government also
mistakenly emphasised the benefits to the state rather than arguing
its benefits to the individual citizen.

His comments mark a significant change in gear in the Home Office
approach under home secretary Charles Clarke to the national ID card
scheme and contrasts sharply with the far more enthusiastic, almost
"cheerleading" tone adopted by his predecessor David Blunkett.
The legislation for the scheme is now going through parliament.

The switch follows support for ID cards nosediving in the polls
in the face of speculation about the possible cost of each card.

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[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. I hope this legislation gets buried

It'd be unworkable, it'd be too expensive and every intelligent fraud gang and hacker in Europe will be working to compromise it.

[ikri]

2. I think some have realized

That ID cards would have had no effect on the recent bombings in London.

Pretty much everything in the police hunt for the bombers has pointed out that ID cards wouldn't have prevented of the bombers. At most it would have allowed for a better audit trail on what the bombers did before the bombs went off.

The best argument that they have put forward since has been that the suspect who fled the country on the Eurostar might have been stopped before he left the country, though that's not a good argument for ID cards, it is more of an argument for better passport controls at points of entry/exit.