Home Secretary, David Blunkett has set out plans for a UK identity card, despite disagreements over whether it will indeed do what the Government says it will.
A first contract award – to do with a trial with 10,000 volunteers over six months – is expected shortly. The card would include a digital photo and a biometric, whether facial recognition, iris scans or fingerprints. Mr Blunkett argued the card would help protect people from identity theft. However Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, called the scheme unworkable: ‘ID cards will do nothing to tackle terrorism or benefit fraud. Instead they could make things worse by creating a false sense of security when criminals start faking cards.’ A sign the Government is less than certain about bringing in ID cards is their slow timetable: the Home Office reports that 80 per cent of adults would have an ID card by 2013 if passports and driving licences are issued with a proposed biometric.
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For most UK citizens, the Home Office says, the card will take the form of a biometric passport which will be upgraded when it comes up for renewal. At the same time, all EU and foreign nationals coming into the country for more than three months will have to pay for a biometric residence permit. The scheme would, says the Home Office:
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boost the fight against illegal working – giving employers a recognisable secure way of ensuring people are entitled to work – and making it easier to prosecute those employers who break the law. From the commencement of the scheme all foreign nationals entering the UK for more than three months will have to pay for a biometric residence permit;
tackle immigration abuse – the lack of a card in the UK compared to most other EU countries is a pull factor for those who think they can come here and disappear;
disrupt the use of false and multiple identities by terrorists and organised crime groups such as money laundering which supports their terrorist or other criminal activities. Using multiple identities is one of the most common practices of those involved in terrorist activity;
ensure free public services are only used by those entitled to them – preventing abuse such as ‘health tourism’;
help protect people from identity theft – it can take the average victim 300 hours to put their records straight.
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Passport upgrade
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The UK is already working on upgrading passports which will include chips containing biometric data, to meet tough international security requirements. From October 2004, only holders of biometric visas will be able to enter the USA, and countries like the UK which currently participate in the 90-day visa waiver scheme will have to develop biometric passports.
