Blunkett unveils ID cards plan

Home Secretary David Blunkett has today unveiled plans to bring back ID cards in Britain for the first time in 50 years, in spite of a chorus of criticism from across the political spectrum.

Home Secretary David Blunkett announced detailed proposals for an "entitlement card" which would be issued to every British citizen in a bid to combat fraud and stop immigrants living and working here illegally.

A new national identity card could play an important role in persuading the French government to close the Sangatte asylum camp near Calais.

French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said during a visit to London last week that ID cards - or the UK's lack of them - was one of the reasons why he believed so many illegal immigrants headed for Britain.

If Mr Blunkett can convince the French that he is serious about reducing such "pull factors" he will be more likely to achieve the political victory of getting Sangatte shut down for good.

Mr Blunkett has ruled out a system where people would have to carry their card at all times, but the new ID cards would have to be produced by anyone wishing to claim benefits, enrol their child in a school or visit a doctor.

Any new ID card would be based on the electronic card scheme for asylum-seekers which was launched in January. Just a week after it was introduced for refugees, Mr Blunkett announced the start of a consultation scheme on the feasibility of "biometric" cards for all.

He revealed that the new documents would be called "entitlement cards" and would carry the same tiny microchips as the asylum-seekers' cards. The range of data options that the credit card-sized cards can store include: a photograph of the bearer; a full set of fingerprints; home address; nationality; date of birth and a range of serial numbers, such as National Insurance or NHS details.

The Government accepts the move would be a "major step", but insists it remains neutral on the issue and has promised not to go ahead without consulting widely.

The announcement, set out in a Commons statement this afternoon, laid out arguments for and against and is being billed as the signal for an "open, frank and vigorous national debate".

However, Downing Street sources have admitted: "We wouldn't be putting the idea forward if we did not think there was a positive reason to look at it."

Introducing the ID cards would be a significant shift in direction for the Government, which firmly slapped down the idea when it was first suggested by MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee last year. In March last year, the Home Office was extremely hostile to the idea, identifying "significant drawbacks" on cost, security and civil liberty grounds. Officials said sharing data between Government departments and controlling services accessed with the cards would be a "complex task".

The Government also warned that police chiefs were worried that a compulsory ID scheme could damage relations with the public.

Crucially, the idea was seen as unworkable on cost grounds because of the need to install "card-holder verification technology at all service delivery points" - every post office, surgery, hospital, local authority and school might need new technology capable of vetting the new cards.

Former Tory social security secretary Peter Lilley, who tried and failed to bring in ID cards for benefits claimants in the Nineties, said the idea was a non-starter. "On critical inspection, claims that smart ID cards would solve all our woes evaporated," he said.