Leader: Don't be fooled by Blair's "cardboard" ID compromise

Reading the papers this morning, you'd be forgiven for thinking the government had made some compromises on the controversial ID cards legislation, which will be voted on again by MPs in the House of Commons on Monday.

That vote is, by all accounts, still too close to call - although if the Labour whip holds strong then enough MPs who voted against the bill last time around are expected to fall into line and save the government from defeat.

Which means Prime Minister Tony Blair is on a full-on charm offensive and hence the stories about a government "compromise".

This "compromise" centres on the amendments to the ID cards bill by the House of Lords last month in which peers defeated the government plan to make it compulsory for people to submit their biometric details for the National Identity Register when they apply for a new passport.

The argument from the House of Lords in doing this was that while peers are not supposed to vote against legislation included in the government's election manifesto - the so-called Salisbury Convention - the manifesto pledge was for voluntary and not compulsory ID cards.

Blair's "compromise" is now that ID cards will be voluntary and that it will require a separate Act of Parliament to be passed to make them compulsory. But under the initial legislation proposed by the government, it requires an affirmative vote by MPs to introduce the move from voluntary to compulsory ID registration. Hardly a compromise by any stretch of the imagination.

And the indications are that the government is refusing to back down on the key House of Lords amendment that would force the Home Office to let parliamentary watchdog the National Audit Office scrutinise the cost estimates of the scheme before the contracts are awarded.

So don't believe the illusion being created by government spin doctors. The government is very much still planning to try and force through its original flawed and costly ID cards plans - as evidenced by the broad definition of ID fraud used by the Home Office last week to back up their claim that it costs the UK £1.7bn per year - figures subsequently rubbished by a silicon.com investigation.

As Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of anti-ID card campaigners No2ID puts it: "This is not compromise, it is panic and deceit. Read the fine print. Even if these cardboard compromises go through, you'll still be forced to be registered or forgo your passport, in all likelihood your driving licence and potentially - if you are a teacher, nurse or care worker - your job. Tony Blair promised voluntary ID cards in his manifesto but now he wants to refuse people that choice."

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