Physical details of all residents to be held on ID database
Submitted by MichaelVail on Thu, 12/21/2006 - 2:41pm.
Scotsman.com
Posted: Dec 20, 2006
EVERYBODY living in the United Kingdom, including foreigners, will be required to have their biometric details recorded under the government's identity card scheme, it emerged yesterday.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, announced that all UK residents, whether or not they were British citizens, would be forced to have their irises scanned and their fingerprints taken for the national database.
"We are going to look at how we could do it for people who are already here," the Home Secretary said.
Mr Reid also revealed he had ditched plans for a single super-computer to hold the entire database.
For reasons of cost, the government will now spread the load between three existing computer systems.
It is not known how much this will save the government, which still insists identity cards for all can be delivered for about £5.4 billion.
Mr Reid denied there had been a U-turn over the computer system. He said: "We have decided it is lower risk, more efficient and faster to take the infrastructure that already exists."
Liam Byrne, the immigration minister said a consultation paper would be published in the new year.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said ID cards would turn out to be a "financial disaster" for Britain.
He said: "
It is beyond belief that John Reid is still prepared to waste up to £20 billion of taxpayers' money on this expensive white elephant.
"ID cards are at best a distraction from the serious, patient painstaking task of making Britain more secure. At worst, they actually risk making Britain less safe.
"What we have is a designer database targeted solely at those who obey the law. Illegal immigrants will not turn up to apply for visas and submit their biometrics."
Posted: Dec 20, 2006
EVERYBODY living in the United Kingdom, including foreigners, will be required to have their biometric details recorded under the government's identity card scheme, it emerged yesterday.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, announced that all UK residents, whether or not they were British citizens, would be forced to have their irises scanned and their fingerprints taken for the national database.
"We are going to look at how we could do it for people who are already here," the Home Secretary said.
Mr Reid also revealed he had ditched plans for a single super-computer to hold the entire database.
For reasons of cost, the government will now spread the load between three existing computer systems.
It is not known how much this will save the government, which still insists identity cards for all can be delivered for about £5.4 billion.
Mr Reid denied there had been a U-turn over the computer system. He said: "We have decided it is lower risk, more efficient and faster to take the infrastructure that already exists."
Liam Byrne, the immigration minister said a consultation paper would be published in the new year.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said ID cards would turn out to be a "financial disaster" for Britain.
He said: "
It is beyond belief that John Reid is still prepared to waste up to £20 billion of taxpayers' money on this expensive white elephant.
"ID cards are at best a distraction from the serious, patient painstaking task of making Britain more secure. At worst, they actually risk making Britain less safe.
"What we have is a designer database targeted solely at those who obey the law. Illegal immigrants will not turn up to apply for visas and submit their biometrics."
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