The UK National Identity Card, A Nation Divided

The introduction of compulsory national identity cards has been on the Labour Governments political agenda for some time, the general opposition to this is the security of data and threat to privacy and civil liberties that will be eroded upon their introduction.

The freedom that is synonymous with Britain's long established heritage is potentially at risk, the risk of international terrorism is the foremost reason put forward by the Government for identity cards to be introduced.

The financial burden of the project has been a issue of contention, the costs of developing and rolling out the cards by the Identity and Passport service have between 2003 and 2006 topped £41 million, and the numbers have risen for 2008/09 with over £81 million being spent. Many critics argue the scheme is too expensive and both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have pledged to scrap the ID card if they win the General Election next year.

Opposer's of the identity card scheme state security issues as the main reason the scheme should be scrapped, they term the UK as being akin to a database state, the concerns over who will have access to the data, the amount of data held and future access rights that cannot be guaranteed.

The Government state several reasons for introducing the cards, principally the threat of terrorism although critics argue that the cards will not prevent this as those who carry out terror related attacks are often unknown to the Police. In addition sophisticated and well funded terror organisations will no doubt have any difficulty in forging and producing a fake identity card with the required security features to operate without detection.

Other reasons for their support include their use to reduce domestic crime and illegal immigration, if the general public were expected to carry the card at all times different demographic groups may become targeted for enforcement. The Government argue that a national identity card for UK citizens is long overdue, a uniform and standard card will standardise identity verification and show entitlement to welfare services by cross referencing to a central database, this would make it increasingly difficult for fraudsters to provide alternative forms of fake id and other counterfeit documentation.

The privacy issues of the cards have long been debated, as there is no convincing evidence from other countries that use identity cards that they do help prevent terrorism and fraud. The purpose of the ID cards has evolved over time with many ministers unclear as to why they are necessary. Their inevitable introduction will mean we have to continually prove our entitlement to services we already receive.