Manchester ID scheme is 'bizarre'

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The shadow home secretary has attacked the "bizarre" decision to begin a voluntary ID card scheme in Manchester.

Manchester will be the first city where people can voluntarily sign up for an ID card, government ministers have confirmed.

But Chris Grayling told the BBC that the scheme will cost too much money at a time when public finances are "in a right royal mess".

The £5bn scheme for Greater Manchester will see thousands of cards printed from this autumn. The government has defended the high cost of launching the project, arguing that much of the sum is made up of necessary updates to the passport system.

But the shadow home secretary said that scrapping the scheme would be a "saving worth having".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am not assuming vast savings because it is certainly the case that the passport project is a big one and that has to happen otherwise people won't be able to travel to countries like the United States."

But the ID card scheme will cost between £1bn and £2bn, he estimated, at a time "when are public finances are in a right royal mess".

"That is a saving worth having, in my view," Grayling said.

"The reality is that it is not just the money to government. It is also the money to people on the ground.

"The government's plans are quite clearly for a compulsory ID scheme in the end."

He added: "I find it bizarre that one thinks you can have a voluntary scheme in Manchester.

"It is just not going to happen. It is very hard to see how you make a scheme work on a voluntary basis. And it is very hard to see how you can make a scheme work on a single city basis."

Grayling also criticised the project for introducing "yet another government database".

Why should Britain spend "billions of pounds" on the plans when there are already databases for passports and driving licences, Grayling asked.

The home secretary, meanwhile, confirmed that pharmacies and post offices could be used as enrollment centres for the identity card scheme.

Jacqui Smith said that biometric passports will also be available at post offices or pharmacies through a process of reading and storing fingerprints, along with a face scan.

"The companies interested in working with us to deliver the service will play a key role in ensuring the public can apply for an ID card or passport simply and easily," Smith said.

"While private companies will clearly benefit from the increased footfall from offering this service, their customers will benefit from being able to quickly provide their biometrics while they are out doing the shopping."

She added: "Our next steps will be for other cities to follow Manchester's lead before full national coverage from 2012.

"This phased approach will ensure that card coverage occurs hand-in-hand with the development of supporting technology such as chip and pin readers."

Chris Fox, former head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, agreed that the theory of ID cards was a "good idea".

But he told the BBC that the decision to introduce the scheme had been taken at a "very different time" financially.

Fox explained: "A voluntary scheme is only going to have a real effect if people believe this is going to be good for them in some way.

"The police never wanted a power to ask for production of the ID card and they never wanted the power to stop you on the street and say, 'Show us your ID card'.

"Whether that is still the same, I don't know."