National identity cards

Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing has written to the new Home Secretary Alan Johnson reiterating the Scottish Government's opposition to the proposed National Identity Card Scheme.

Mr Ewing asked the Home Secretary in reviewing his portfolio to cancel the ID scheme.

He wrote to dispute a letter from Phil Woolas which claimed that the scheme would bring economic benefits to the UK, raising doubts about the figures quoted in the letter.

In his letter to the Home Secretary, Mr Ewing said:

"Given the current financial climate, I believe the UK Government should have better uses for the vast sums of money being spent on this scheme which presents an unacceptable threat to citizens' privacy and civil liberties, with little tangible evidence to suggest it will do anything to safeguard against crime and terrorism.

"In the midst of a deep recession, with more job losses announced nearly every day, it simply beggars belief that the UK Government is pressing ahead with this costly scheme.

"It is worrying that your Department is building arguments on economic benefits that have to assume so much over such a long period of time. Not only that, but having undertaken such an exercise, I am concerned that Mr Woolas chooses to use only the £6 billion figure rather than the £2 billion (or quoting the range, £2 billion to £10 billion) and the phrase 'over time' thus avoiding the fact that this is 30 years.

"Would it not be more transparent and open to make it clear this is built on lots of assumptions that may not hold up over the 30 years the figure relates to and be explicit about what these assumptions are?

"The UK Government continues to use the same argument: that 70 per cent of the planned expenditure will need to be spent in any event just to implement secure biometric passports. This is a fallacy.

"The UK Government chose to commit to the EU standard biometric passports from 2012. They could have waited for international standards and technology solutions to emerge and to have collaborated and shared costs on that technology infrastructure. The UK Government taking the 'lead' in this has resulted in unnecessary 'up front 'expenditure on such things as Research & Development.

"While I note that in the UK Government's 'Safeguarding Identity' strategy of June 2009 you endorse all its actions, including the NIS, I urge you, in light of the uncertainty around net benefits and as part of the review of your portfolio, to cancel this wasteful and unnecessary Scheme."

The Minister for Community Safety recently (June 15) received a reply from Phil Woolas to his letter of February 12 to Meg Hillier on matters raised as part of the UK Government's consultation on the Identity Cards Act secondary legislation. One of the key grounds on which the Scottish Government opposes this scheme is that of its cost. Mr Woolas argued in his reply that:

"The recently published Impact Assessment on the Identity Cards Act secondary legislation provides a full cost and benefits assessment for the Service and shows that over time there will be an estimated £6 billon net economic benefit to the UK as a whole. Furthermore, it is not the case that vast sums of money would be released if the Service was not being put in place. Approximately 70 per cent of the planned expenditure will need to be spent in any event just to implement secure biometric passports and, as with passports, the operational costs of issuing identity cards will be recovered from fees."

www.scotland.gov.uk

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