Cabinet gives cautious backing to ID cards

The Cabinet has agreed "in principle" to introduce ID cards but has failed to agree a timetable for the move.

Following a high level row within government, senior ministers agreed that David Blunkett's plan could deliver "major benefits" but could take years to bring into force.

The government will now proceed "by incremental steps" to develop a compulsory national identity card scheme.

"In practice, given the size and complexity, a number of issues will need to be resolved over the years ahead," said Number 10.

The prime minister's official spokesman said ministers had agreed "in principle" to support ID cards but would not implement the system "until later this decade".

Exact wording of the announcement - with echoes of the famous euro fudge - showed how tortuous the Cabinet negotiations have been.

"We intend to proceed by incremental stages to build a basis for a compulsory national identity card system with a full decision to proceed to a compulsory card later when the conditions for moving to a compulsory card are met," the Number 10 spokesman said.The home secretary had pushed hard for the initiative to be included in this month's Queen's Speech but there was no confirmation that even draft legislation would be included.

David Blunkett met stiff resistance from senior colleagues so the carefully worded compromise was issued to buy time.

Blunkett wants the cards as part of the war against terrorism but the sheer cost and complexity means that without the involvement of other departments - and Treasury cash - the initiative would have fallen at the first hurdle.

Chancellor Gordon Brown, foreign secretary Jack Straw and trade and secretary Patricia Hewitt had raised serious concerns about the policy.

Civil liberties campaigners have also raised objections and some ministers are fearful of the costs and complexity of the policy.

The prime minister has said he is in favour of the cards "in principle".

The Cabinet's domestic affairs committee discussed the proposal on Wednesday - a meeting described by one participant as "bloody but inconclusive".

Labour MP David Winnick, a member of the Commons home affairs select committee, said the idea should be scrapped altogether.

"I'm not at all surprised there is so much controversy at the most senior level of the Cabinet," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday.

"I'm opposed to the scheme. I believe there is a good deal of opposition in the House of Commons from all sides, that it hasn't been thought out, that it would be extremely costly, that it would raise expectations about dealing with terrorism, illegal immigration and other such problems.

"But those problems would not be resolved, any more than they are resolved in other EU states that do have identity cards."

However home affairs committee chairman John Denham was more positive.

"I would like to see a draft bill, because I think that the debate for most people has moved beyond the principle and into the practicalities, and we really need to have some time now to look at the particular proposals that David Blunkett has brought forward," he said.

"The argument in principle is enormously strong...a decent identity system is crucial in the medium to long-term.

"I agree there are issues about the practicalities. The problem is at the moment that only those around the Cabinet table know what David Blunkett's proposals look like in detail."