[Reader-list] Scrap ID cards plan, says David Blunkett

[Taha Mehmood]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/28/blunkett-id-cards


Scrap ID cards plan, says David Blunkett

Passports with biometric data would do same job and be cheaper than
£5bn scheme, says former home secretary



guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009

Scrap ID cards plan, says David Blunkett

Passports with biometric data would do same job and be cheaper than
£5bn scheme, says former home secretary



David Blunkett, the former home secretary, believes the government
should scrap plans to introduce ID cards for all, in favour of
mandatory biometric passports, it was reported today.

According to the BBC, the MP for Sheffield Brightside said at the
InfoSec 2009 security conference, in London, that biometric passports
could do the job and that he had put the idea to the home secretary,
Jacqui Smith.

The proposal represents a significant U-turn for the MP who first
mooted the idea of ID cards when he was home secretary in 2001.

Asked whether ID cards could be dropped, Blunkett told the BBC: "I
think it is possible to mandate biometric passports. Most people
already have a passport but they might want something more convenient
to carry around than the current passport and may be able to have it
as a piece of plastic for an extra cost."

Using existing databases to hold the same information already gathered
to issue passports could be a way of allaying fears over a new
"database of information", one of the key criticisms of the ID scheme.

"People don't worry about the Passport Agency but they do worry about
some mythical identity database," he said.

Last month the home secretary said government plans for introducing ID
cards were "on track". But as the recession puts the squeeze on
government spending, there have been suggestions that the scheme,
which, it is estimated, will cost £5bn, could be dropped.

Mandatory biometric passports would be considerably cheaper, Blunkett
claimed. "Most of the cost is borne by the person purchasing the
passport."

The government began issuing passports containing biometric
information in March 2006.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, has already suggested ID cards would
be scrapped if his party won power in the general election.