Leaked Home Office documents reveal plans to postpone the mass issue of ID cards in the United Kingdom by a further two years.
The document unveiled was written for the senior management board of the Home Office and proposes the plan be postponed from 2010 to 2012. Entitled ‘National Identity Scheme Delivery Strategy’ the document states that it has been agreed a National Identity Scheme would be in place however, not until 2012.
Conservatives claims that the document contradicts earlier plans published in 2006 which said that by 2010, ID cards would be issued with British passports.
David Davis, Shadow Home Secretary stated that the government’s proposed ID card scheme was a shambles and that the project will not do much to improve security and may even pose as a threat to security.
In response to the criticisms, a spokesperson for the Identity and Passport Service stated that the Home Office would not make any comments on leaked documents. The ability to link fingerprints to a protected database with stringent regulations will allow people, businesses and the state to effectively prove their identity in a more secure and convenient way and at the same time, protect personal information from misuse.
Identity and Passport Services introduced biometric passports according to predicted time frames and budgets in 2006. Currently, there have been more than 8 million issued. The next step is to start including finger prints in ’second generation’ biometric passports in order to remain up to date with international improvements in passport security.
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