ID cards bill scrapes through
Kablenet.com
Published: 20 Oct 2005 10:05 BST
The government has managed to squeeze its identity card bill through its Commons reading on 18 October, 2005, after making a series of last minute concessions.
With 25 Labour rebels lining up with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to vote against the plan, the bill was passed but with a slim majority of 309 votes to 284.
Before the vote, Labour MP Neil Gerrard had tabled an amendment allowing people to apply for a passport without having to submit their details to a national identity database. It was narrowly defeated by 32 votes.
Gerrard had argued that although the government has presented the scheme as voluntary, it amounts to "creeping compulsion".
Along with the amendment, the Liberal Democrats' attempt to refer the bill back to a select committee for further scrutiny was defeated. Also defeated — by 33 votes — was an amendment to remove all charges for ID cards.
Home secretary Charles Clarke had told the Commons that the details contained on the card would not go beyond those currently held on passports unless further legislation was passed.
The government was cautioned against keeping costs of the scheme secret by one of its own senior MPs.
John Denham, a former home office minister and chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, said that key financial details should be available. "The likelihood is we will end up paying more than we need to…because we haven't had enough time to scrutinise the process," he said.
Ahead of the vote, Clarke had promised to cap the fee for stand-alone ID cards — those not combined with passports — at £30 each. The Home Office says that the cost of a combined ID and biometric passport would be £93 but it has not released the precise costs of the scheme as it claims they are "commercially sensitive".
MPs also raised concerns expressed by some in the IT industry over the scheme. Microsoft national technology officer Jerry Fishenden had before the vote highlighted "technical security and privacy issues".
"Putting all of our personal identity information in a single place is something that no technologist would ever recommend: it leads to increased and unnecessary risk," Fishenden had warned.
He advised the government to follow the example of the US e-passport programme and engage with industry experts to "find flaws and problems" with the system so that it can be improved.
Lib Dem constitutional affairs spokesperson David Heath called on the government to listen to Fishenden.
"On balance, I prefer the evidence of the bosses of Microsoft to the minister on these matters," he told MPs.
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