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Secret paper reveals Labour's lies over ID cards
Last updated at 23:07pm on 07.04.07
The Government faces damaging claims of misleading voters over ID cards after documents revealed it always planned to make the controversial scheme compulsory.
Whitehall papers, which the Government has fought for two years to suppress, disclose that Labour intended to force the public to sign up to the programme.
They appear to contradict commitments given by Labour in its 2005 Election manifesto, which pledged that the cards, and the national identity register containing people's names, addresses, fingerprints and other information, would be 'on a voluntary basis'.
The briefing notes, released under the Freedom Of Information Act, show that civil servants had already been told ID cards would be compulsory for everyone by 2014.
Opposition MPs said the papers proved the Government had 'purposely set out to mislead the public and politicians about their plans'.
The Department For Work And Pension's (DWP) 'ID Fraud Benefit Profile' was produced in October 2004 and was designed to show how the project would cut benefit fraud.
In a table illustrating the predicted yearly savings expected by the department it states that from 2014 - Year 7 of the project - 'The identity card scheme is now compulsory'.
But 18 months later, the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke insisted the scheme was voluntary. He told MPs: "In accordance with the Labour party's Election manifesto...we will introduce ID cards...initially on a voluntary basis."
The papers also undermine claims by Ministers that the scheme would halve the £50million lost to benefit cheats. The internal briefing reveals that the much-quoted savings were purely guesswork by officials.
It says: "NOTE: DWP perceive losses to identity fraud to be between £25-£50million per annum, due to the nature of our business processes and recording of monetary value of fraud and error the figures are unreliable therefore DWP can only sign up to a maximum saving in the area of £25million per annum."
The first ID cards are due to be issued in 2009 to anybody who applies for a passport. Britons will be required to give fingerprints, biometric details such as a facial scan and a wealth of personal details - including second homes, driving licence and insurance numbers.
While the ID Cards Bill was going through Parliament, peers and Ministers agreed an 'opt-out' for people who needed a passport but did not want to join the ID cards scheme. But to get a passport, ID card objectors will now still have to hand over all personal details to the ID cards register.
Former Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten, who successfully fought to get the internal documents published, said: "They show Ministers had no basis to claim the cards would combat benefit fraud, that from the very beginning the cards were going to be compulsory and that Ministers were consistently not telling the truth about their true intentions."
The DWP said the details in the papers 'are no longer valid'.
A Home Office spokesman said the documents were 'incredibly out of date'.
Reader views (5)
Haven't we seen this somewhere else: like the Third Reich or apartheid South Africa?
Unless the "watchers from the side" wake up and join the refuseniks, history will repeat itself once more.
Meanwhile, use your vote in the May elections.
- M. Hogarth, Reading, UK
From an outside view, it is obvious what the Government are up to. They want to spy on everyone. And it is not a "conspiracy theory". It is happening and will continue to happen, even if the Tories get in. But again, most people will do nothing as they are just "sheeple" and will follow the master. Just don't complain when it's too late!
- Graham, NZ
"Vere are your papers, citizen?"
It's a multi-billion pound scam. The only people who want it are those about to get stinking rich from it.
Putting all your ID eggs in one basket is bad security. One malicious computer programmer will be able to ruin people's lives with the stroke of a keyboard, as ID cards work with a single, massive central database.
Not that malice is required. If only 1 person in 100 has a problem with their data being wrong, that will be 650,000 cock-ups. Lives will be turned upside down by it. People will be refused air travel, football tickets, restaurant bookings, you name it. Completely innocent people.
Who fixes the errors? Who can prove an error anyway? And who pays for all of this time-wasting charade?
We do, of course. £85 per person (!) for a pointless extra plastic card. Pointless, that is, except by 2014 you really won't be able to leave home without it.
If you can foresee what ID cards really mean, join the NO2ID campaign now. If you can't, read up on how the Nazis controlled Germany.
- Mark Mcandrew, Stockport, UK
It's a sad state of affairs but lying seems to be the first reaction they have. It gets that way when you have hidden agendas. These guys really must go, but then we need to ask some pretty fundamental questions about the system that produces such low quality, dishonest leadership.
- D Marney, Salford
No, the papers are not out of date. That was always the plan, spun as subject to a manifesto and election. They have just been caught lying again. The ID card issue is about trust, and this government has repeatedly shown they cannot be trusted. Bout anything.
- George Edwards, Harrogate, UK
