Blair wins vote in Commons in ID scheme

Blair wins vote in Commons in ID scheme

	Published : Thu, 16 Mar 2006 02:05 By : Phil Bateman Print this Story

LONDON: The House of Commons endorsed prime minister Tony Blair's plan to introduce national identity cards in a vote Monday night that makes it mandatory for anyone applying for a passport in the country to register for the ID document as well.

Members voted 310 to 277 rejecting amendments sought by the House of Lords intending to make the cards optional. The bill is now back to the Lords for reconsideration Wednesday.

The government maintains that the ID cards system will curb identity fraud, illegal immigration, terrorism and organised crime. But its opponents mainly question the cost of the scheme estimated at around 1.7 billion pounds a year. Experts say the central database that will hold the details of the citizens could have a "honeypot effect" on identity fraudsters.

If the House of Lords again rejects the proposal -- for a third time -- the House of Commons is expected to vote again Thursday and if the impasse continues, the ministers can opt to invoke the Parliament Act and have it passed without the Lords' consent.

Home office minister Andy Burnham felt this may not be necessary as the Lords will now bow to the will of the Commons on the issue.

The scheme would require setting up a database of citizen's details; it would need biometric and card readers in police stations, doctors' surgeries, banks and post offices; registration offices and mobile registration vans, and a communication network for authorised organisations to check details without compromising a person's safety.

There are 69 companies, which are interested in getting the contract for implementation of the system. Among them are Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Oracle Corp. and SAP AG.

Critics of the scheme say the government is breaking an election promise that the scheme would be voluntary by insisting that anyone applying for a passport or renewing it would have to get an ID card and have his or her details entered in the national register. The Lords' amendments are for a voluntary scheme.