Scrapping ID cards is a momentous step
uesday 21 December 2010 08.00 GMT
Damian Green
ID cards represented the worst of government. Abolishing them is a statement of our intent to create a fairer and freer society
Today's final abolition of the intrusive and expensive ID card scheme is the climax of a long campaign that has been extremely close to my heart. I believe civil liberties and values that we should fight to uphold have been under serious threat for some years.
So it is with enormous pleasure that I celebrate as the identity documents bill passes into law and scraps the ability of the state to gather volumes of personal biographical and biometric information from citizens without the data serving any specific purpose or benefit.
The ID card was launched with fantastic claims about supposed benefits. In truth, it represented the worst of government. The first duty of government is to ensure its citizens are protected, but ID cards could never have done that. They would have been a distraction from the real work that needs to be done in countering terrorism, illegal immigration or benefit fraud.
The law paves the way for the secure destruction of the national identity register. Photographs, fingerprints and personal information that were submitted as part of the application process for an ID card will be destroyed within two months. ID cards will no longer be valid for travel and identity verification purposes within one month. Only around 12,000 members of the public signed up for a card, showing the lack of enthusiasm for the scheme, despite the intense propaganda campaign from the Labour government.
Scrapping ID cards brings many benefits. It will save the taxpayer around £86m over the next four years, once all cancellation costs are taken into account. It also avoids the commitment given in 2009 by the previous administration to further planned investment of some £835m over the next 10 years.
That would have represented a spend of more than £1bn on ID cards. The previous administration claimed that this money would be recovered by fees, but however the government proposed to pay for the scheme, the money would have to come out of the pockets of UK citizens. Cancelling the ID card scheme is a momentous step, and a statement of our intent to create a fairer and freer society in the UK.
The next step is the freedom bill, scheduled to be introduced in the new year. This bill will address a number of issues where the balance between liberty and security has not been struck. The bill is likely to include provisions on DNA retention and the further regulation of CCTV. It will prevent schools taking children's fingerprints without parental consent. We also aim to include reforms of the criminal records regime and vetting and barring scheme to scale them back to commonsense levels.
These measures are only the start. In the following months and years, we will continue to act decisively to defend civil liberties while protecting the public. I hope we have put the era of ever increasing state intervention in our private lives behind us forever.
So it is with enormous pleasure that I celebrate as the identity documents bill passes into law and scraps the ability of the state to gather volumes of personal biographical and biometric information from citizens without the data serving any specific purpose or benefit.
The ID card was launched with fantastic claims about supposed benefits. In truth, it represented the worst of government. The first duty of government is to ensure its citizens are protected, but ID cards could never have done that. They would have been a distraction from the real work that needs to be done in countering terrorism, illegal immigration or benefit fraud.
The law paves the way for the secure destruction of the national identity register. Photographs, fingerprints and personal information that were submitted as part of the application process for an ID card will be destroyed within two months. ID cards will no longer be valid for travel and identity verification purposes within one month. Only around 12,000 members of the public signed up for a card, showing the lack of enthusiasm for the scheme, despite the intense propaganda campaign from the Labour government.
Scrapping ID cards brings many benefits. It will save the taxpayer around £86m over the next four years, once all cancellation costs are taken into account. It also avoids the commitment given in 2009 by the previous administration to further planned investment of some £835m over the next 10 years.
That would have represented a spend of more than £1bn on ID cards. The previous administration claimed that this money would be recovered by fees, but however the government proposed to pay for the scheme, the money would have to come out of the pockets of UK citizens. Cancelling the ID card scheme is a momentous step, and a statement of our intent to create a fairer and freer society in the UK.
The next step is the freedom bill, scheduled to be introduced in the new year. This bill will address a number of issues where the balance between liberty and security has not been struck. The bill is likely to include provisions on DNA retention and the further regulation of CCTV. It will prevent schools taking children's fingerprints without parental consent. We also aim to include reforms of the criminal records regime and vetting and barring scheme to scale them back to commonsense levels.
These measures are only the start. In the following months and years, we will continue to act decisively to defend civil liberties while protecting the public. I hope we have put the era of ever increasing state intervention in our private lives behind us forever.
