Britain to scrap Identity cards programme

Britain will scrap the proposed multi—billion dollar identity—card programme within 100 days, the government announced today.

The National Identity Register, the database which contains the biographic and biometric fingerprint data of card holders, would also be destroyed by the first piece of legislation introduced to Parliament by the coalition government.

“This bill is a first step of many that this government is taking to reduce the control of the state over decent, law—abiding people and hand power back to them,” Home Secretary Theresa May said.

“With swift Parliamentary approval, we aim to consign identity cards and the intrusive ID card scheme to history within 100 days,” she said.

The scheme estimated to cost almost 5 billion pounds over the next decade, which was brought in by the previous Labour administration. It had argued the cards were vital in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “The wasteful, bureaucratic and intrusive ID card scheme represents everything that has been wrong with the government in recent years.

“By taking swift action to scrap it, we are making it clear that this government won’t sacrifice people’s liberty for the sake of Ministers’ pet projects.

“Cancelling the scheme and abolishing the National identity Register is a major step in dismantling the surveillance state — but ID cards are just the tip of the iceberg.

Today marks the start of a series of radical reforms to restore hard—won British freedoms.