Identity cards branded an 'unacceptable threat to privacy'

Published on Saturday 27 June 2009 19:44

THE Scottish Government has stepped up calls for the UK identity card scheme to be scrapped.

Recently appointed home secretary Alan Johnson is being urged to cancel the cards as he reviews his new portfolio.

The SNP administration has long opposed the scheme, which will cost an estimated 1.1 billion to introduce over ten years.

In a letter to Johnson, Holyrood community safety minister Fergus Ewing said: "Given the current financial climate, I believe the UK Government should have better uses for the vast sums of money being spent on this scheme."

The first identity cards were introduced last November for foreign nationals living in Britain, while residents of Greater Manchester will be the first British citizens able to apply voluntarily for an identity card later this year.

Ewing said they are an "unacceptable threat to citizens' privacy and civil liberties" with little evidence they will reduce crime or terrorism.

"In the midst of a deep recession, with more job losses announced nearly every day, it simply beggars belief that the UK Government is pressing ahead with this costly scheme," Ewing wrote in his letter.

"It is worrying that your department is building arguments on economic benefits that have to assume so much over such a long period of time."

The Government has claimed that the roll out of the National Identity Service will return a net benefit of 6 billion over 30 years.

But, Ewing said, this is built on "lots of assumptions" that may not hold up over such a long period.

He also said a claim that 70 per cent of the planned cost would need to be spent anyway to implement new biometric passports was false.

His letter adds: "I urge you, in light of the uncertainty around net benefits and as part of the review of your portfolio, to cancel this wasteful and unnecessary scheme."