ID cards not about to be scrapped, says gov't

The ID cards scheme will not be scrapped, despite rumours to the contrary, according to government sources.

The Guardian reported yesterday that Gordon Brown had ordered a review of the technology to be used in the scheme due to cost. The Sunday Mirror also reported that the prime minister plans to scrap the scheme altogether, due to cost and the advice that ID cards will be ineffectual against threats such as terrorism.

However a spokesperson for the prime minister's office denied there had been any U-turn regarding ID cards.

The spokesperson, who declined to give any details of whether there would be a change in policy announced in the Queen's speech, said: "There has been no change in policy on that."

The Home Office also denied any reversal of policy on ID cards. "The key thing is there's no policy change," said a Home Office spokesperson. "Next year foreign nationals will be required to have [ID cards], and we're looking at late 2009 for [ID cards for] UK nationals."

A spokesman for NO2ID, an anti-ID cards lobbying group, said he had seen no appetite in government for any change to the scheme.

The spokesman said: "No one in government has given us any indication there's been a cooling or real desire to knock this on the head as a bad idea. Even a cursory look at the technology would show that a rigorous biometric-checking database for 60 million people is pie in the sky."

However, the NO2ID spokesman added that the government may try to mitigate any potential political damage caused by the unpopularity of the scheme by promising a review.

He said: "There may well be [an upcoming] election. If the electorate get wind that the ID card system will involve a lot of being scanned and prodded and poked and checked by civil servants, the government may want some kind of smokescreen, like the Crosby review."

The Crosby review, which scrutinised the business case for ID cards from a financial perspective, was due to be published in spring of this year. However, this has yet to happen, leading critics to assert that the government is delaying its publication due to the review being unfavourable.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK