by dbeach » Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:09 am
Can compulsory chips be far behind?<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/14/nid114.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/14/ixhome.html">news.telegraph.co.uk/news...xhome.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>"Compulsory ID cards 'by the back door'<br>By George Jones<br>(Filed: 14/02/2006)<br><br>The Government was accused last night of planning "backdoor compulsion" for identity cards despite promising MPs that fresh legislation would have to be introduced first.<br><br>The Conservatives attacked Government plans to ensure that after 2008 anyone getting a new passport, a residential status or immigration document would be required to obtain an ID card and have their details recorded on the national database.<br><br>The Identity Cards Bill also gives the Home Secretary the power to make regulations under which, in future, access to public services will be conditional on producing an ID card.<br><br>The House of Lords amended the Bill so an individual could choose to apply for an ID card when applying for designated documents, such as passports, but the Government wants to remove the choice.<br><br>Mr Clarke said the Lords "risk undermining the basis of the current identity cards proposal". He added: "We have always been clear that the identity cards scheme has been designed and is intended eventually to become a compulsory scheme for all United Kingdom residents."<br><br>The Government had been equally clear that linking identity cards to the issue of designated documents was a central part of the scheme in the first phase. Eighty per cent of the population held a passport, he said.<br><br>"We believe this will enable a sensible phased introduction of identity cards and that once passports and residence permits are designated it means that as British nationals - resident in the United Kingdom - renew or apply for their residence permits they will be entered on the national identity register and issued with cards that will serve as ID cards.<br><br><br>Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister, replied: "Yes." But he assured MPs that the power to make the provision of public services conditional on identity checks would also depend on the passing of further legislation. <br><br>The Government bowed to the demands of the House of Lords that a new Bill, not just a simple vote in Parliament, would be needed before identity cards could be made compulsory.<br><br>Edward Garnier, the Conservative home affairs spokesman, welcomed the climbdown but said it did not go far enough.<br><br>He dubbed the move "a 20 per cent concession", telling MPs: "While it is right to welcome this limited concession we need to be very careful indeed when we see a Bill which calls itself the Identity Card Bill but is essentially a Bill which sets up a national identity register. <br><br>"There is a huge tranche of the population of this country who will still be compelled to give up to the national identity register information which is private to them," Mr Garnier said."<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
