19 November 2004
Home Secretary David Blunkett has staked his political reputation on making the identity card programme a success.
Addressing an Institute for Public Policy Research conference on November 17, Blunkett issued a bullish defence of his ID card policy. He said that if the government failed to deliver, 'I shall certainly be remembered in history as one of the biggest political failures Britain has ever produced'.
Acknowledging that the government's record on large-scale IT projects was far from perfect, he said the Home Office had gone out of its way to gather outside expertise and was working with other departments to avoid duplication.
An ID card Bill is expected in next week's Queen's Speech and Blunkett attempted to reassure critics who fear it will allow government too much intrusion into private life.
Only basic personal details such as name, address and date of birth are to be held on the ID database, as well as three biometric verifiers: fingerprint, iris scan and facial recognition.
'The extent of the information held will be strictly limited and subject to tight controls. Only Parliament will be able to extend or change what information is held by the scheme,' he said, adding that store loyalty cards held far more information.
PFnov2004
