ID card support collapses

Support for the UK's national ID card scheme has fallen dramatically over the past year with more than 80 per cent of people now opposed to the controversial plans, according to a new survey of silicon.com readers.

The results show a complete collapse in support for ID cards compared to a silicon.com poll in August 2004 where 60 per cent of respondents were in favour of the scheme.

The latest poll of almost 600 silicon.com readers over the past week shows that 82 per cent are against the introduction of a national biometric ID card scheme in the UK. Of those against ID cards, 17 per cent said they have shifted from pro to anti-ID cards as the full details of the scheme have emerged. The remaining 83 per cent said they have always been against ID cards.

Just 18 per cent of silicon.com readers are in favour of the government's ID card plans, with 14 per cent of those saying they have switched from an anti- to pro-ID card position over the last year.

A separate survey by the Open University (OU) of 1,122 OU students found that support for ID cards drops from over half to a third if it becomes compulsory to register for one.

Dr Adam Joinson, senior lecturer at the OU, said: "The results of the study suggest that removing people's choice about whether or not to have an identity card not only reduces public support but also leads to a 'tipping point' where those ambivalent to the arguments of privacy and civil liberty campaigners begin to oppose ID cards in increasing numbers."

The continuing collapse in public support for ID cards comes on the day MPs are due to vote again on amendments made to the ID cards bill by the House of Lords last week which would make it voluntary for people to register for ID cards when applying for or renewing a passport.

Peers in the House of Lords argued that the government had promised only to introduce a voluntary, not compulsory, national ID card scheme in its election manifesto.

But in a rallying letter to MPs, seen by silicon.com, Home Office minister Andy Burnham said: "We will be resisting this amendment because it goes to the heart of our plans for delivering a successful scheme that we have always said should become compulsory in time."