ID cards to be ‘compulsory’ for non-EU citizens

Tony Blair has said that he wants identity cards to be made compulsory for all non-European Union foreign nationals who seek work in the UK.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the prime minister said that such a move would allow the state to ‘check accurately’ those immigrants coming into the country and to assess their eligibility to work, receive free health treatment and claim benefits.

Defending the government’s controversial scheme, which is due to be in operation in 2008, Mr Blair also insisted that the case for ID cards was not linked to arguments about liberty, but about living in the ‘modern world’.

The prime minister’s defence of ID cards comes after the UK’s official information watchdog warned last week that the country was ‘waking up in a surveillance society’.

Launching a public debate on the issue, information commissioner Richard Thomas said that whilst some surveillance activities were necessary in order to tackle problems such as terrorism or serious crime, ‘unseen, uncontrolled or excessive surveillance’ could foster a climate of suspicion and mistrust within society.

Making the case for ID cards, Mr Blair writes in the Telegraph: ‘I am convinced, as are our security services, that a secure identity system will help us counter terrorism and international crime.’

The prime minister added that the scheme would also help tackle the problem of identity fraud, which is thought to cost the UK around £1.7 billion each year.

‘Building yourself a new and false identity is all too easy at the moment. Forging an ID card and matching biometric record will be much harder,’ said Mr Blair.

Rejecting claims by civil liberties groups that the introduction of ID cards will infringe on the liberty of individuals, Mr Blair argued that the public provided information about their identities on a daily basis to ‘a whole host of companies and organisations’, adding, ‘I don’t think the civil liberties argument carries much weight’.

The prime minister also claimed that surveys suggested that the public supported the introduction of ID cards to fight crime in the same way they were ‘overwhelmingly’ behind the use of CCTV to catch hooligans and the use of DNA to detain serious criminals.

Turning to criticisms that ID cards will prove ineffective at fighting crime, Mr Blair stressed that ‘past failures’ relating to IT government projects should not serve as an argument to drop the scheme ‘but to ensure it is done well’.

Finally, the prime minister rounded on those who claim that the costsof the scheme will escalate, describing figures attached to ID cards as ‘unfair and inaccurate’ because they included the cost of having a biometric passport, something the United States has started to require.

However, opposition to ID cards is likely to continue from civil liberties groups such as Liberty, whose director Shami Chakrabarti last month claimed: ‘Excuses for ID cards are like a many-headed Hydra, shoot one down and another one pops up.’

‘Including everything from illegal immigration to anti-terrorism, no doubt at some point ID cards will be the cure to obesity and global warming as well,’ she said after the government revealed that the scheme would cost an estimated £5.4 billion to introduce.

The Telegraph claims that Mr Blair will use his monthly press conference today to stress that the government’s ID card plans, which are opposed by both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, are on course and on budget.

© 2006 Adfero Ltd.