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Blunkett hints at end to £5bn identity card plan

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Published Date: 29 April 2009
By Gerri Peev
FORMER home secretary David Blunkett has admitted the government should scrap ID cards and instead force people to hold biometric passports.
Mr Blunkett told an audience at a security conference in London that he had made the suggestion to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Asked later whether ID cards could be dropped, Mr Blunkett said: "I think it is possible to mandate biometric passports.

"Most people already have a passport but they might want something more convenient to carry around."

His remarks renewed speculation the government could try to ditch the £5 billion scheme as a cost-cutting exercise. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "When even the father of ID cards spurns them, the idea is truly an abandoned orphan."

However, a Downing Street spokesman insisted the identity card scheme would go ahead.





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  • Last Updated: 28 April 2009 10:52 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Identity cards
 
1

For Scotlands Future,

Vote for the SNP 29/04/2009 00:43:28
So we don't have an ID Card, but are forced to carry around and ID Document/Passport which everyone will have to get.

So instead of a compulsory ID Card, we will have a compulsory ID Document, that will hold the same information.

Have I told you already that if you strip down a computer hard-drive, the magnets that you find inside are some of the most powerful that are readily available. But be careful because they can play havoc with information stored on the type of chips used in these passports.

I imagine that there are already devices available by which you can read and write to these chips
2

Padraig,

29/04/2009 01:01:50
We are into that already - I asked for a copy of a police report last week and was told that I would need to apply in writing and would need to send in my passport "to prove that I was who I said I was".

As though the police report didn't actually name me as the victim and include my address - to which the report would be sent.

Are the police stupid nowadays, or are their bosses, the politicians, just mendacious?
3

Mercutio,

FALKIRK 29/04/2009 01:13:21
#2 "Politicians mendacious", tautology.
4

SouthernSkye,

29/04/2009 07:33:25
It is not the ID cards I oppose. it is the massive database that will store personal information that I am concerened with. A simple non-bio metric ID card I could, at a push, live with. Although I often forget things so i would, no doubt, be an offender as soon as they were launched!
5

Hmm ...,

29/04/2009 08:05:34
... If you are unhappy with Brown and Labour's performance (and who wouldn't be?) vote in this Downing Street e-petition calling for his resignation - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/ or go the extra mile and support the call for a General Election - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GoToCountryNow/

We badly need a change of government and we need it NOW!
6

tommy M,

Scotland 29/04/2009 10:55:40
Is this another U turn from Westminster? A "cost cutting" exercise? Don't make me laugh! More bumbling from an incompetent, financially inept government in Westminster. Stop squandering money on Trident why don't you?
7

Ronald Penman,

Glasgow 29/04/2009 11:11:40
Ah the return of David"Family Values" Blunkett. First we had "Mandy" mincing back to no.ten, and now this far-right, sleazy scumbag - remember him hammering the sick and disabled, the asylum seekers, etc ? And having a large number of shares in a company in which his department was in a position to award massive govt contracts, yet the bold boy declined to declare a clear conflict of interest !
He has already been forced to leave his positions on two previous occasions, how long will he last this time?
8

Audrey Halliday,

29/04/2009 11:26:29
By way of punishment for being thrown out of ministerial positions (twice), Blunkett was punished by getting £18,000 tax free, (twice), for loss of office.

That showed him.

9

Jason,

Japan 29/04/2009 12:15:47
You never lose your girl, Dave. You just lose your turn.
10

IainGlasgow,

29/04/2009 13:08:54
"However, a Downing Street spokesman insisted the identity card scheme would go ahead"

Well I for one have absolutely no intention whatsoever of registering for, let alone carrying an ID card and I would emplore anyone else who is opposed to them to take the same stance.

If anyone is keeping records you can log this comment along with my IP address and hold me to it!

 

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