BBC News: ID cards are of 'limited value'

[Bob Rosenberg]

Dave

Perhaps of interest to IP.

Bob


 BBC NEWS
ID cards are of 'limited value'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4659228.stm

ID cards would be of "limited value" against terror and would not
have prevented
the London attacks in July, says the reviewer of anti-terror laws.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile said he had changed his mind on
identity
cards, which he had previously backed.

"I can't think of many terrorist incidents, in fact I can think of
very few...
that ID cards would have brought to an earlier end," he told GMTV.

The bill introducing the ID cards plan is currently going through
Parliament.

It recently suffered two defeats in the Lords, with peers wanting an
entirely
voluntary scheme, and ministers wanting people applying for new
passports and
driving licences to be obliged to go on the ID card register.

"ID cards could be of some value in the fight against terrorism but
they are
probably of quite limited value," Lord Carlile told GMTV's Sunday
programme.

Civil liberties fear

"They would be an advantage but that advantage has to be judged
against the
disadvantages which Parliament may see in ID cards.

"I certainly don't think the absence of ID cards could possibly have any
connection with the events of last July.

"There may be a gain from the security viewpoint in the curtailment
of civil
liberties, but Parliament has to be the judge about whether the
proportion is
right."

He added: "I think Parliament is so unenthusiastic about the ID cards
that, in
reality, this is a debate rather than a reality.

"I don't think they will get through a compulsory ID card system
immediately."

'Rushed' debate

Lord Carlile also said he thought the Terror Bill, debated by the
Lords this
month, had been "rushed".

"I don't think there was a need to rush through the current terror
legislation.
I would have preferred it to go to a scrutiny committee.

"I think it's led to certain issues being muddled by political debate
rather
than analysis."

Ministers say ID cards are needed to fight identity fraud and illegal
immigration.

The plans were narrowly backed by the Commons last year but the House
of Lords
tabled a number of amendments aimed at making sure people have a choice.

Conservative leader David Cameron has called ID cards a "monument to
the failure
of big government".

His comments followed a report which estimated they would cost
?14.5bn - which
the government denies.

The government is likely to try to overturn the Lords defeats when
the ID cards
bill returns to the Commons.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4659228.stm

Published: 2006/01/29 10:54:29 GMT

? BBC MMVI



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