Britain's ambitious ID card plan comes under attack

LONDON - British parliamentarians slammed Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for the world's most ambitious biometric identity card scheme on Friday, saying vital elements of the controversial project were unclear and inconsistent.

Blair's government wants to bring in compulsory ID cards carrying fingerprint, iris and face-recognition technology from 2008, saying they are essential in the fight against terrorism, serious organised crime and illegal immigration.

Experts say the technology involved make it the most ambitious project of its kind and one of the world's largest IT schemes, but critics say the cards will be an infringement on civil rights and will be costly and ineffective.

"There is not the level of confidence in this scheme that could be expected at this stage," said Phil Willis, chairman of the parliamentary Science and Technology Committee which produced a critical report into the scheme on Friday.

"Despite their vested interests in the scheme, industrial representatives are speaking openly about their concerns regarding the identity cards programme."

Last month newspapers published leaked emails from senior government officials expressing doubts about the feasibility of the scheme, which, according to one report by academics, could cost as much as £19 billion ($58.8 billion).

The interior ministry denied the scheme was in jeopardy but admitted the timescale for its introduction might slip.

Any failure to bring in the cards would be a huge embarrassment for Blair, who remains a determined supporter.

"Don't be under any doubt at all that (the scheme) goes forward," he told reporters on Thursday.

"If people want to track illegal migration and organised crime in this country you've got to have identity cards."

Under the plans, Britons applying for or renewing passports after 2008 would be given an ID card and their biometric details would be put on a national register.

It would see Britons issued with ID cards for the first time since they were abolished after World War 2.

ID cards are used in about a dozen European Union countries but are not always compulsory and do not carry as much data as those planned for Britain.

- REUTERS