U.K. ID card cancellation to save taxpayers more than £800 million
Documents accompanying Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech say that the U.K. government will save £86 million and the public will save more than £800 million in fees from the abolition of biometric national identity cards; the Queen outlines several other bills the Tory-Lib/Dem government will push, including adopting the Scottish model for the National DNA Database in England and Wales, further regulating CCTV, and ending the “storage of internet and email records without good reason”
A prototype biometric identity card // Source: ceoworld.biz
The U.K. government has said it will save £86 million and the public will save more than £800 million in fees from the abolition of identity cards. The figures were released with documents published to accompany the queen’s speech on Tuesday. In her speech delivered at the state opening of parliament, the queen said: “Legislation will be brought forward to restore freedoms and civil liberties through the abolition of identity cards and repeal of unnecessary laws.”
According to the plans, the Identity Documents Bill, which will be one of the first introduced to the new session of parliament, will if passed save taxpayers “around £86 million over the next four years once all cancellation costs are taken into account”. It will also save the public from paying more than £800 million in fees charged to applicants.
Kable reports that the bill will lay out plans to cancel all identity cards and destroy the National Identity Register within one month of its passing. No refunds will be given to those who already hold cards. It will also immediately remove the statutory requirement to issue cards, and close the Office of the Identity Commissioner.
The Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill will, if passed, cancel second generation biometric passports and cancel the National Identity Scheme outright. It would also lead to the government adopting the Scottish model for the National DNA Database in England and Wales (on the Scottish DNA database model, see “European Court: Scottish DNA database system is ‘fairer and proportionate,’” 7 May 2009 HSNW), further regulate CCTV, and end the “storage of internet and email records without good reason.”
The announcement said the bill will also strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, make the state more accountable to citizens and repeal “unnecessary criminal laws.” It will follow the Identity Documents Bill later in the parliamentary session, which will run until autumn 2011.
