BRITAIN: Plans by the UK government to introduce identity cards to bolster national security and tackle fraud faced renewed criticism yesterday, when a wide-ranging academic study claimed the costs of the controversial project could rise to £19 billion ($34.7 billion), three times official estimates.
The study from the London School of Economics, which comes ahead of a parliamentary debate on the issue today, gave new ammunition to opponents of ID cards, who have claimed the system will be too costly, ineffective in fighting crime and a threat to civil liberties.
The issue of ID cards is an emotive one in the UK, where the relationship between the state and the individual has been loose, officially at least, and where efforts to change this are judged by some to be intrusive.
Richard Thomas, the official information monitor, added his voice to those of the critics yesterday when he warned that ID cards could become part of a new "surveillance society".
Tony Blair, prime minister, dismissed such fears yesterday, together with worries about the cost of the proposed scheme, saying that ID cards would cost no more than £30 per person as part of a general upgrading of the country's passport regime, with the inclusion of biometric data on documents.
He said: "In a time of intense global insecurity, there is now an unstoppable political momentum across the developed world for countries to use the opportunity for new technology to make their borders more secure".
Under government plans from 2008, passport applicants will receive a separate biometric ID card with a biometric passport.
The government estimates that about 80 per cent of the UK population will hold a biometric ID card by 2012-13. The application procedure for new UK passports will also be tightened as part of the drive against identity fraud, it emerged yesterday. From 2008, applicants for new passports will have to undergo an interview with government officials.
The EU has agreed member states' passports should begin including facial biometrics from 2006 and fingerprints by 2008.
ID cards were introduced in the UK during the second world war but were phased out in the early 1950s, a move many greeted with ceremonial burning of their identity papers.
Civil liberty groups have expressed concern about plans for the creation of a "national identity card register" and cast doubt on government claims that ID cards will help to fight crime, saying UK crime levels are comparable to those in countries with identity cards.- (Financial Times)