ID cards:
will they work?

The Government is proposing to spend at least £5 billion on a compulsory ID card system. That's enough to pay for 10,000 more police officers.

But will ID cards work? Here we exclusively reveal the Home Office's own analysis of ID cards published in 2002.



The theory

ID cards will.......

• Help to identify criminals
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  "Identifying a suspect is not usually a problem for the police, the vast majority of people they come into contact with are already known to them."
  "...a card scheme itself could become a target for organised criminals to produce counterfeit cards."
  
  
• Tackle benefit fraud
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  "Most fraud in the benefits system is not committed by people adopting other identities"
  
  
• Help defeat terrorism
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  Fighting terrorism isn't even a purpose of the cards - "Far more important are the issues of citizenship and entitlement to services" says David Blunkett
  
  
• Stop bogus asylum seekers
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  "Asylum seekers are now being issued with Application Registration Cards (ARCs) which also include biometric information in the form of fingerprints."
  
  
• Stop foreigners getting NHS treatment
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  "...are we really going to get doctors to police and deny health care to ill people? Fraud committed by people claiming NHS services who are not entitled to it is minuscule."
  
  
• Be a simple solution
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  "The project would be complex and subject to the risks confronted by all lbrarge scale IT projects."
  
  
• Be easy to get and use
  
  What the Home Office really thinks...
  The following people would have difficulty getting a card…"people who were housebound or not very mobile ... people who were mentally ill or incapacitated in some way ...people who were fleeing abusive relationships...."
  
  

Source - 'Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud - A Consultation Paper" July 2002

Police, not plastic

"Tackling crime needs more police, not plastic.

"The Home Office's own analysis shows the flaws - ID cards would be expensive, ineffective and bureaucratic.

"I'm staggered Michael Howard's Conservatives are backing Blair on this. Cards will cost every person over £50 and waste taxpayers' money that's better spent on more police."

Edward Davey MP
(Liberal Democrat, Kingston and Surbiton)

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