By Andy McCue, 16 March 2005 16:05
NEWS The government's plans for a national ID card look set to be shelved until after a general election because of likely opposition to the bill by Conservatives in the House of Lords.
Despite opposition from the Liberal Democrats the ID card bill was passed by MPs earlier this year, although the Tories abstained in the final vote, and it was due for its final reading in the Lords before the election.
But following the tough ding-dong battle the government faced last week in getting its terrorism bill through the Lords and given the short debating time left before a likely 5 May election, Labour may to sacrifice the ID cards bill in favour of others, such as the serious and organised crime and police bill, which would get an easier passage through the Lords.
The ID card bill's fate is likely to be sealed during the "wash up" – the period just before the general election when the government and opposition parties come to an agreement on what bills will be saved and what ones will be ditched.
Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allan told silicon.com the government should take the opportunity to rethink its "half-baked" ID card proposals after the election, which Labour and Tony Blair are expected to win.
"Thankfully it looks like the government will run out of time. If the bill can't be properly scrutinised then it is entirely wrong to put it on the statute book. It will be best if they quietly let it die and then think again about the whole notion of a national identity register and ID cards," he said.
Allan's and the Liberal Democrat's opposition to the ID card scheme has been well-documented and he likened the bill to "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
"On a practical basis if you have this large amount of money to spend on crime and policing there are better areas to spend it," he said.
One Conservative MP told the Independent newspaper the ID card bill is "dead in the water" but Allan warned that the government may threaten to exploit any Conservative opposition in the forthcoming election campaign.
"There are many individual Conservative MPs who know it is a bad idea but the party is running scared of being accused of being soft on terrorism in the run-up to the election," he said.
For the low-down on the UK government's ID card plans check out this silicon.com Cheat Sheet
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Ken Hall
The real softies on terrorism are Labour, who will lock up untried innocent citizens, based on nothing more than suspicion, yet they have allowed so many convicted terrorists early release from prison to run amok.
Even the Americans who have funded terrorism for so many years in Ireland are finally seeing the error of their ways and calling for the disbanding of the IRA.
At least the Conservatives seem to still believe in innocent until proven guilty and then lock them up and throw away the key.
2. colin jamieson
I take exception to the assumption that the Labout Party and Tony Blair are expected to win the election.
Clearly that is not the case, I believe they are approaching the election in hope rather than expectation, and your biased report does nothing for the otherwise excellent article
3. Tim Haines
Let's hope that's an end to it then! We all have ID already and don't need and don't want any more repressive legislation in this vein.
4. Richard
Save our liberty ... and taxes!
Great news: ID cards and the ID database were always going to be a useless waste of vast amounts of money.
They would have removed important liberties without achieving any of their stated aims.
They were the products of a dangerously authoritarian, failed government which seems to lack any real understanding of IT, technology or business.
5. Ken Hall
Unfortunatley Charles Clarke intends to re-introduce the ID card bill after the election IF he is returned to power. Alarmingly, he believes that if you disagree with him you are 'crazy' this si especially alarming as labour plan to lock up the insane without trial, much like anyone they believe could potentially, one day, maybe, become a terrorist, on the say-so of the corrupted intelligence agencies.
Disagree with labour? You need locking up mate!