Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 47something for something society which we value. As people renewtheir passports, they will receive their new identity card. The cost ofbiometrics and the card will be added to the total of passports.” 71When the Identity Cards bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech, the Home Secretarylinked the ID card to the new passport, and extended the cost argument, drawing links toUS and EU policies:“And why the necessity of doing it at all now? Well fairly obviouslyon a very personal level what is it good for in terms for us? If we aregoing to have to pay $100 a throw to get a biometric visa for clearanceto travel to and from the US and there are 4 of us in the family, it’s alot easier to use a biometric ID card, linked to our new biometricpassport then it is to have to pay over and over again in order to becleared to be able to get to the US, and that will certainly become thecase in other parts of the world as well. It’s helpful for us, in terms ofbeing able to establish common travel arrangements in Europe. Notnecessary inside but certainly coterminous with the Schengen travelarea, in order to be able to do that, alongside our colleagues in France,Germany and Spain who are now developing the issue of biometricsfor travel inside and outside the European Union.” 72This line of reasoning was summarised by the Prime Minister, responding to a questionfrom the leader of the Liberal Democrats on the practical costs and challenges to theproposed scheme:“The point that I would make is that what has changed my mind onidentity cards is that we now have the technology and, indeed, willeffectively be obliged to use it for passports, which represents the bulkof the cost – £70 out of the £85 is for the passport, which we will haveto introduce in any event. It makes sense in my judgment, when wehave this biometric technology and when it really can make adifference on some of these issues – this is a common consensuscertainly among the police and enforcement services – that we make itclear that ID cards will be introduced.” 73Following the introduction of the Identity Cards legislation, the Home Secretaryasserted, in an article for the Times, that:“This drive towards secure identity is, of course, happening all overthe world. Under current plans, for example, from next autumn Britishtourists who need a new passport will have to get a biometric one tovisit the US or get a biometric visa. We will – rightly – have to bearthe costs of introducing the new technology to enhance our passports71 ‘UK ID cards to be issued with first biometric passports’, John Lettice, The Register, October 11, 2004.72 Home Secretary ‘Identity Cards Speech’ to the Institute for Public Policy Research, November 17, 2004,http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/identitycards_041118speech.htm.73 House of Commons, Hansard, December 15, 2004, Column 1664.