ID card scheme gets underway

November 16, 2009

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RESIDENTS in Manchester will become the first people in Britain to be able to apply for ID cards.

They can now directly apply to attend appointments from November 30 to have their photograph and fingerprints taken for the £30 cards at Manchester's passport office.

Junior Home Office Minister Meg Hillier said the cards would be particularly useful for students and young people as they would 'save the cost and hassle' of getting into clubs and bars.

Anyone over 16 in the city with a UK passport can apply for a card.

Ms Hillier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Really for a lot of people it's a day-to-day convenience thing.

"For a lot of young people ... they often take their passports to prove their identity in nightclubs and bars and the Passport Service sweeps these up every week.

Convenient

"So for a lot of people it'll save the cost and hassle of taking your passport, risking losing it and instead you've got this very convenient little credit-sized card.

"I've got one and it's very useful."

The ID cards were very hard to copy and were very secure, with biometric information stored on a database, she added.

"This is not a database that can be downloaded onto disks," she said.

"It's going to be held in different places so there'll be fingerprints and your picture on one database and your biographical information (on another), which is I must stress just the same as what's held by the Passport Service anyway ... and they will be linked together by another database."

The database would only be used for 'serious crime issues' or identity concerns at a border.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: “The lack of confidence the Government has in this scheme is evident by the fact that they have made no estimate of the take-up of this trial.

Follies

“This is hardly surprising when the minister believes it is only useful for getting into nightclubs and collecting parcels. This is a far from robust defence of one of their most expensive follies.”

ID cards will be launched nationwide from 2012 but they will not be compulsory.

The Liberal Democrats pointed to “staggering” official figures which showed the Government was spending nearly £230,000 a day on developing ID cards and biometric passports.

Between April 2006 and September 2009, the Identity and Passport Service spent £216.1 million on future development projects for ID cards and biometric passports.

Spending so far for 2009-10 (between April and September 2009) is at a record high of £42 million - £229,508 every day.

In 2008-09, £81.5 million was spent, in 2007-08 £61.7 million and in 2006-07 £30.9 million.

Brazen

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: “Such enthusiastic spending is brazen when public finances are under such strain and opposition to the scheme is mounting.

“Ministers should explain exactly what this money is being lavished on. It is no good to pretend they do not know what ID cards cost.

“Any taxpayers' money spent on ID cards is wasted - they will not fight terrorism, cut crime or halt illegal working.

“The Government should put an end to the ID cards fiasco and use the huge amount of money saved to put 10,000 more police on the street.”

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Albert Square, Republik of Mancunia (16/11/2009 at 12:12)

So the Government suggests these ID cards would be 'good for getting into bars and clubs' Is this the same Government that tells us that there are too many young people 'getting into bars and clubs' ?

If that's the best use for these cards, then what a waste of time and money.

I doubt there will be a queue at the Passport Office on November 30th.

I certainly won't be there.

Black Flag (16/11/2009 at 12:15)

"Junior Home Office Minister Meg Hillier said the cards would be particularly useful for students and young people as they would 'save the cost and hassle' of getting into clubs and bars."

In what world does paying more result in a cost saving?

""So for a lot of people it'll save the cost and hassle of taking your passport, risking losing it and instead you've got this very convenient little credit-sized card."

Which will be even easier to lose! Compare the number of passports lost each year with the number of driving licences and you'll see that this isn't a solution to anything.

These people are either incredibly stupid, so arrogant that they don't think they need to make an intelligent case for robbing us of our liberties, or both.

Whichever it is, they need to be removed from power as soon as possible and resisted and ridiculed until then.

Amounderness Lad, Caithness (16/11/2009 at 12:17)

It doesn't matter if it's capable of being transferred to disk or not it is still a government held National Identity Database holding all the details of everybody who volunteers to hand over all their details.
This government has been trying to force the National ID Card scheme on us for the last 12 years. Whenever they fail to get it forced through parliament they simply us the tried and tested EU method of ignoring any decision against what they want and either invent a different excuse for it or, as in this case, try to implement it by stealth by introducing it piecemeal in various places hoping more areas will jump on the bandwagon. If a large enough number of people fall for the con then very soon Manchester Council will be insisting the card is produced as ID by everybody wishing to use certain facilities. In other words they will make it so inconvenient to be without one that people will be forced to join the silly scheme.

There is no reason whatsoever for there to be any need of a National Database. If young people need to prove their age to get in club, pubs etc. a simple locally issued ID card, similar to a Students Card, with a photo on it would suffice without all the other intrusive information being stored. Having a passport is down to individual choice, people are not forced to travel abroad, although the government has even extended that to internal flights, but once a full ID Database is enforced people will have no choice. Oh, and despite what is claimed about the Passport Service, I have a passport but they certainly do not have my fingerprints.
It is time the government's mania for trying to intrude into every corner of law-abiding people's lives was put a stop to, enough is enough.

Hamish Macbeth, Whitefield (16/11/2009 at 12:19)

Shame the Government ignored warnings from just about everyone over the past 10 years about uncontrolled immigration.
We wouldnt even need to consider this expensive folly had they!

Anthony Cutt (16/11/2009 at 12:27)

Why is Manchester always the guinea pig for all the Government's crazy schemes?

keyjockey, Manchester (16/11/2009 at 12:29)

It'll be a cold day in hell before anyone who is - even only vaguely - sentient signs up for this dreadful scheme. What is most nausea-inducing about the whole shameful affair is the way this discredited government is proceeding with this and other doomed legislation as though everything is normal, as though they have a future. The Conservatives have vowed to tear this up when they take power by next summer. Labour is in denial. Everyone can see that the Government is a political Titanic steaming relentlessly ahead towards an electoral iceberg that will hole them below the waterline and probably result in a party schism that will last decades. On the bridge stands Captain Brown, completely and utterly oblivious to what lies ahead.

Mark,Radcliffe. (16/11/2009 at 12:36)

'When flogging a dead horse Prime Minister,always delegate to a Junior Minister'....I can hear Nigel Hawthorne's voice as clear as if he were today.

Amounderness Lad, Caithness (16/11/2009 at 12:40)

Sorry, I forgot to mention the total lie at the end of the article. "The database would only be used for 'serious crime issues' or identity concerns at a border." Didn't they tell exactly that same lie about the RIPA laws which were only to be used for those suspected of acts of terrorism of for those engaged in major acts of serious or international crime. Those descriptions now include people sending children to the wrong school, people not cleaning up dog mess and that most serious of international crimes,people putting bins out on the wrong day. Annoying though some of those things are they hardly rank along with Crime Lords and International Drug Smugglers.

Apart from a period during the Second World War the people of Britain have managed to survive very well without having to carry ID cards in our own country and there is nothing which has changed to alter that fact and that includes terrorism which is certainly not new in Britain or any worse that it has been in the past. As for the comment about the information on ID Cards and people at borders, if people are leaving the country they need a passport, not an ID card. The only borders you do not need a passport for are those between Wales and Scotland. Is there a serious suggestion you will not be able to cross those "borders" without being stopped and your ID demanded? I certainly have not heard of any suggestion of Border Controls being introduced for Wales and Scotland, or have I missed something. Once again an absolutely silly excuse has been introduced for ID Cards being useful.
The whole story about how useful ID Cards would be is an absolute insult to people's intelligence.

to the point, bury (16/11/2009 at 12:42)

No thank you.

Squire of Newton, Newton nr. Hyde (16/11/2009 at 12:44)

Woolas, stick your ID cards where the sun don't shine.
And i have absolutely nothing to hide.

Englisc Stannes, North Manchester (16/11/2009 at 12:52)

A bit of a feel good factor for nulabor and seeing manchester is their vote winners, not surprising to start here. Note how they are only attracting the young in their campaign. This is to bypass the greater unwashed and unwilling. I suspect the adverts catered fro the young is already winging it way. Also manchester council will be getting an extra bonus this year.

Dez, , Stretford (16/11/2009 at 13:01)

no chance. if the id card was to replace passport or driving licence then maybe, other wise waste of thime

Dez, , Stretford (16/11/2009 at 13:03)

this is a waste of public money as with every thing this government do bring back Tony Blair or have a election and get rid of this brown person. if the id card replaced the passport or driving licence then it would be fine as it is its a waste of time

Dez, , Stretford (16/11/2009 at 13:07)

no way would i spend £30 on a id card when i have a driving licence and a passport

Anthony Cutt (16/11/2009 at 13:08)

Only last week did I call Labour facists & everyone insulted me.

Roadrunner, Irlam (16/11/2009 at 13:13)

The ID cards were very hard to copy....
That statement tells me 'copying the ID cards was a success but quite difficult'.
They will be copied such as biometric passports were successfully copied...

In order for me to apply for an ID card I would have to produce documents to prove who I am..
If I can prove who I am what the hell do I need an ID card for.

PS.....Credit cards get lost as well numpty.

A Manc and blue (16/11/2009 at 13:17)

Why so much?

every man & his dog (16/11/2009 at 13:26)

The 9-11 bombers had all the necessary paperwork and id cards

Worked a treat there then.

starman, oldham (16/11/2009 at 13:29)

I'd rather spend £30 on lottery tickets. More worthwhile....

sledge (16/11/2009 at 13:30)

im getting one, they are cool

Almighty God, Salford (16/11/2009 at 13:36)

not gonna happen

James Yates, Hyde, Cheshire (16/11/2009 at 13:37)

Every country in the world issues ID cards to its citizens. I think the UK not having them it pure genius. I collect social security under 10 different names, I have 25 different bank accounts (some under the name of complete strangers whose phoney gas bills I printed on my PC), and I make sure my earnins are spread among 7 different names I have given myself so I can avoid paying income tax while claiming housing allowances and child benefits for non-existing children. This is why I came to live in the country. You people are so intelligent.

Andy2, Manchester (16/11/2009 at 13:39)

There's no way I'm having one, even if they were free. It will be instructive to see just how many of these useless things are sold.

Mrs Jammy, Sitting on the settee (16/11/2009 at 13:42)

Don't really see the point of these ID cards. Consisdering you can only get one if you show your passport - if you already have a passport that can get you in and out of any country in the world, why would you also need an ID card?

Crumpsall-Lass, Crumpsall (16/11/2009 at 13:43)

I'm not having one under any circumstances. If I need ID, I have a driving licence but in general I'm not asked for any. I also don't want my medical information on some centralised database so that the government can sell it to some private organisation without my permission. The government, and politicians, are getting too big for their boots and I'm not playing.

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