by bvonahsen » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:07 am
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://icessex.icnetwork.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17393949&method=full&siteid=50102&headline=blair--id-card-scheme-will-go-ahead-name_page.html">Blair: ID card scheme will go ahead</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>Jul 16 2006<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The Prime Minster has insisted that the Government's ID cards programme is going ahead - and at the same pace as before.<br><br>His assurance comes after it emerged last week that a crucial stage of the controversial project has been postponed.<br><br>Tendering of contracts for the multi-billion-pound programme - which will force every adult in Britain to give fingerprint and iris scans - has been put off until at least the end of the year.<br><br>Computer Weekly magazine disclosed that the delay will mean the scheme is highly unlikely to be running by 2008 as planned.<br><br>It also emerged that the project is likely to be dramatically simplified.<br><br>Challenged that it had been effectively scrapped, Mr Blair insisted: "The story on ID cards is wrong."<br><br>He told BBC1's Politics Show: "Our programme for identity cards will continue."<br><br>Asked if it would do so at the same pace, he replied: "At the same pace."<br><br>The Prime Minister said a timetable had been set for the project, adding: "The only reason we shifted a little bit back was because of the lateness of the Parliamentary assent, but don't be under any doubt at all.<br><br>"This is what's so absurd about the Conservative position, or parts of the media that oppose identity cards and yet say to us track the illegal in the country - there is no way you're going to be able to track people who are in this country without identity cards."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
