Hewitt hits out at ID cards

The trade and industry secretary has renewed her campaign against Home Office plans for compulsory identity cards.

 

Speaking on Sunday, Patricia Hewitt put herself back at the forefront of attempts to block or delay home secretary David Blunkett's radical initiative.

 

The policy has been the subject of an unprecedented level of Cabinet debate with Blunkett pushing hard for the scheme to become compulsory.

 

The suspected al Qaeda attacks in Madrid this month were seen as further evidence of the need for tough anti-terrorist measures.

 

Civil liberties

 

But Hewitt, a former officer of the National Council for Civil Liberties, who has led a coalition of Cabinet ministers against the idea, said that she believes mandatory ID cards are "many many years away".

 

"I have always had concerns going right back to my days at Civil Liberties about compulsory ID cards," she told GMTV.

 

"We had a long debate about this in Cabinet and we were all in agreement that what we should do is move ahead with the introduction of proper forms of identity cards.

 

"We've got to get a big new database up and running. This is a huge project that is going to take many many years just to do it on that voluntary basis.

 

"And then when we get several years ahead on that, then the Cabinet and parliament can decide whether or not there would be any further advantage to be gained by making it compulsory. That's a judgement to be made down the line.

 

"As far as compulsion goes we also decided that is a matter that can be decided in the future after we've gone through the whole process of introducing the biometric passport and driving licence. That's a pretty big job in itself."

 

And she dismissed the argument that the Madrid attacks had increased the need for ID cards.

 

"I don't personally [think that] but in any case what we need to do is first of all test out the biometrics, then we introduce them on the driving licences and passports," she said.