Identity Cards Act 2006
The Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was repealed in 2011. It created National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Economic Area travel document, which were voluntarily issued to British citizens. It also created a resident registry database known as the National Identity Register , which has since been destroyed. In all around 15,000 National Identity Cards were issued until the act was repealed in 2011. The Identity Card for Foreign nationals was continued in the form of Biometric Residence Permits after 2011 under the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 and the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
The introduction of the scheme by the Labour government was much debated, and civil liberty concerns focused primarily on the database underlying the identity cards rather than the cards themselves. The Act specified fifty categories of information that the National Identity Register could hold on each citizen. The legislation further said that those renewing or applying for passports must be entered on to the NIR.
The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition formed following the 2010 general election announced that the ID card scheme would be scrapped. The Identity Cards Act was repealed by the Identity Documents Act 2010 on 21 January 2011, and the cards were invalidated with no refunds to purchasers.
The UK does not have a central civilian registry and there are no identification requirements in public. Driving licences, passports and birth certificates are the most widely used documents for proving identity in the United Kingdom. Most young non-drivers are able to be issued a provisional driving licence, which can be used as ID in some cases, but not all are eligible. Utility bills are the primary document used as evidence of residency. However, authorities and police may require individuals under suspicion without identification to be arrested.
Development
Reasons given for the need for introduction
Initial attempts to introduce a voluntary identity card were made under the Conservative government of John Major, under then Home Secretary Michael Howard. At the Labour Party conference in 1995, Tony Blair demanded that "instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands more police officers on the beat in our local communities." It was included in the Conservative election manifesto for the 1997 general election, in which Labour returned to office.A proposal for ID cards, to be called "entitlement cards", was initially revived by the Home Secretary at the time, David Blunkett, following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, but was reportedly opposed by Cabinet colleagues. However, rising concerns about identity theft and the misuse of public services led to a proposal in February 2002 for the introduction of entitlement cards to be used to obtain social security services, and a consultation paper, Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud, was published by the Home Office on 3 July 2002. A public consultation process followed, which resulted in a majority of submissions by organisations being in favour of a scheme to verify a person's identity accurately. However, it was clear that the ability to properly identify a person to their true identity was central to the proposal's operation, with wider implications for operations against crime and terrorism.
In 2003, Blunkett announced that the Government intended to introduce a "British national identity card" linked to a national identity database, the National Identity Register. The proposals were included in the November 2003 Queen's Speech, despite doubts over the ability of the scheme to prevent terrorism. Feedback from the consultation exercise indicated that the term "entitlement card" was superficially softer and warmer, but less familiar and "weaselly", and consequently the euphemism was dropped in favour of "identity card".
During a private seminar for the Fabian Society in August 2005, Tony McNulty, the minister in charge of the scheme, stated "perhaps in the past the government, in its enthusiasm, oversold the advantages of identity cards", and that they "did suggest, or at least implied, that they might well be a panacea for identity fraud, for benefit fraud, terrorism, entitlement and access to public services". He suggested that they should be seen as "a gold standard in proving your identity". Documentation released by the Home Office demonstrated analysis conducted with the private and public sector showed the benefits of the proposed identity card scheme could be quantified at £650m to £1.1bn a year, with a number of other, less quantifiable, strategic benefits — such as disrupting the activities of organised crime and terrorist groups.
Legislative progress
The Identity Cards Bill was included in the Queen's Speech on 23 November 2004, and introduced to the House of Commons on 29 November.It was first voted on by Members of Parliament following the second reading of the bill on 20 December 2004, where it passed by 385 votes to 93. The bill was opposed by 19 Labour MPs, 10 Conservative MPs, and the Liberal Democrats, while a number of Labour and Conservative members abstained, in defiance of party policies. A separate vote on a proposal to reject the Bill was defeated by 306 votes to 93. Charles Clarke, the new Home Secretary, had earlier rejected calls to postpone the reading of the Bill following his recent appointment.
The third reading of the bill in the Commons was approved on 11 February 2005 by 224 votes to 64; a majority of 160. Although being in favour in principle, the Conservatives officially abstained, but 11 of their MPs joined 19 Labour MPs in voting against the Government. The Bill then passed to the House of Lords, but there was insufficient time to debate the matter, and Labour were unable to do a deal with the Conservatives in the short time available in the days before Parliament was dissolved on 11 April, following the announcement of the 2005 general election.
Labour's manifesto for the 2005 general election stated that, if returned to power, they would "introduce ID cards, including biometric data like fingerprints, backed up by a national register and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports". In public speeches and on the campaign trail, Labour made clear that they would bring the same Bill back to Parliament. In contrast, the Liberal Democrat manifesto opposed the idea because, they claimed, ID cards "don't work", while the Conservatives made no mention of the issue.
After the 2005 election
Following their 2005 general election victory, the Labour Government introduced a new Identity Cards Bill, substantially the same as the previous Bill, into the Commons on 25 May. The Conservatives joined the Liberal Democrats in opposing the Bill, saying that it did not pass their "five tests". These tests included confidence that the scheme could be made to work, and its impact on civil liberties. In December 2005, the Conservative Party elected a new leader, future Prime Minister David Cameron, who opposed ID cards in principle.The second reading of the Bill on 28 June was passed, 314 votes to 283, a majority of 31.
At its third reading in the Commons on 18 October, the majority in favour fell to 25, with 309 votes in favour to 284 against. In the report stage between the readings, the Bill was amended to prevent the National Identity Register database being linked to the Police National Computer.
In early 2006, the Bill was passed through the House of Lords committee stage, where 279 amendments were considered. One outcome of this was a vote demanding that the Government instruct the National Audit Office to provide a full costing of the scheme over its first ten years, and another demanding that a "secure and reliable method" of recording and storing the data should be found. A third defeat limited the potential for ID cards to be required before people could access public services. On 23 January, the House of Lords defeated the government by backing a fully voluntary scheme.
The committee stage ended on 30 January, and the third reading of the Bill took place on 6 February, after which it returned to the Commons. There, on 18 February, the legislation was carried by a majority of 25, with 25 Labour MPs joining those opposing it. Following the defeats in the House of Lords, the government changed the Bill in order to require separate legislation to make the cards compulsory; however, an amendment to make it possible to apply for a biometric passport without having to register on the National Identity Register database was defeated, overturning the Lords' changes to make the Bill fully voluntary. The Lords' amendment requiring a National Audit Office report was rejected.
The Bill returned to the Lords on 6 March, where the Commons amendments were reversed by a majority of 61. The defeat came despite ministers warning that the Lords should follow the Salisbury Convention by refraining from blocking a manifesto commitment. Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats stated generally in 2005 that they no longer felt bound to abide by the convention, while in this specific case several Lords stated that it would not apply as the manifesto commitment was for implementation on a voluntary basis as passports are renewed, rather than being compulsory as passports are renewed.
Subsequent votes:
- 13 March: House of Commons — majority of 33 for Government
- 15 March: House of Lords — majority of 35 against Government
- 16 March: House of Commons — majority of 51 for Government
- 20 March: House of Lords — majority of 36 against Government
- 21 March: House of Commons — majority of 43 for Government
The Bill received Royal assent on 30 March 2006.