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New doubt on compulsory ID cards Brown 'still supports ID cards'
(about 3 hours later)
Gordon Brown could be preparing for a rethink on making ID cards compulsory, a senior Labour MP has suggested. Gordon Brown has not changed his mind on identity cards despite speculation he is preparing for a U-turn, a home office minister has told the BBC.
Keith Vaz, home affairs committee chairman, said the PM was taking a more "nuanced" approach to the issue. Meg Hillier said the PM had "made it very clear" he supported the scheme.
He spoke after Mr Brown said the plan to make cards compulsory would depend on how the voluntary scheme worked, as well as being subject to a vote by MPs. Tory leader David Cameron has written to Mr Brown asking for clarification after a Commons clash over whether he wants them to be compulsory or not.
Mr Brown was responding to Tory leader David Cameron's demand that he say if he still favoured a compulsory scheme. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he believed there had been a "significant shift" in the government's position.
The question was prompted by a weekend interview in which Mr Brown said the scheme did not involve compulsion - and comments on Tuesday that compulsion was just an "option" left "open". The row was ignited by an interview Mr Brown gave to a Sunday newspaper in which he said: "Under our proposals there is no compulsion for existing British citizens".
The whole question of identity cards, which are opposed by Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, has been thrust into the spotlight again by the recent loss of data by the government. 'Simple question'
Mr Vaz said the data loss problems were why his select committee - which has already carried out extensive investigations into ID cards - would be returning to the subject again in the next few weeks. Challenged about his comments by Mr Cameron in the Commons, Mr Brown said: "It is the government's policy to move ahead with this but subject, I have to tell him, to a vote in Parliament depending on how the voluntary scheme works."
'Wriggle room' Mr Cameron later wrote to the prime minister requesting a clarification.
Mr Vaz suggested this was a softening of the previous government rhetoric on the issue of ID cards. For the prime minister now to tiptoe away from that I think is an extraordinary admission of defeat Nick Clegg Lib Dem leader
Asked if the prime minister was creating "wriggle room" - for fear he will not get the scheme through Parliament - Mr Vaz said: ''I think there may well be a little bit of nuances being created here. He wrote: "Anyone watching will have been left in considerable doubt about whether you personally support compulsory ID cards and will recommend this approach to the House of Commons".
It is the government's policy to move ahead with this but subject... to a vote in Parliament, depending on how the voluntary scheme works Gordon Brown on ID cards He added: "Could you now answer this very simple question: Do you personally support a compulsory ID Card system for British nationals?"
Nick Clegg, who has said he would be prepared to go to jail rather than carry an ID card, said the government had clearly shifted its position on the controversial scheme.
'Gritted teeth'
"I detect a death by a thousand cuts," Mr Clegg told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.
He contrasted Mr Brown's stance with the approach of his predecessor Tony Blair, who in 2006 offered MPs a future vote on compulsion as part of a deal to get the legislation through the Commons.
"Let's be clear, the government was forced, through gritted teeth, to concede there would be a separate vote on compulsion, but always made clear at the time of that debate and that vote that compulsion was necessary for the scheme to work.
ID cards are going ahead. We had the act of Parliament passed Meg HillierHome Office minister
"For the prime minister now to tiptoe away from that I think is an extraordinary admission of defeat," Mr Clegg added.
But junior Home Office minister Meg Hillier said there was no question of a U-turn on ID cards.
"ID cards are going ahead. We had the act of Parliament passed.
"I am busy working at proposals now for how exactly we will be doing that and in due course the home secretary will be making announcements about how that will happen."
'Very supportive'
She said speculation about a change of heart had "got a bit heated unnecessarily".
"We always said there would be a further vote in Parliament about identity cards," added Ms Hillier.
"And we always said that any discussion about compulsion would only come after a scheme was implemented on a voluntary basis and had acceptance.''
In my opinion, without it being mandatory, there is little point in doing it David BlunkettFormer home secretary
She said Mr Brown had "made it very clear he is supportive" of the scheme.
Earlier, Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee, said he also believed the government had shifted its position, in the light of recent data loss scandals.
Asked if the prime minister was creating "wriggle room" - for fear he would not get the scheme through Parliament - Mr Vaz said: ''I think there may well be a little bit of nuances being created here.
He said his committee was to look again "at the issue of data protection in respect of ID cards because of what's happened over the last few weeks and the minister has agreed to come and see us in a fortnight's time and I think if there is going to be a change of policy, that will be a good opportunity to make it clear, that it has changed".He said his committee was to look again "at the issue of data protection in respect of ID cards because of what's happened over the last few weeks and the minister has agreed to come and see us in a fortnight's time and I think if there is going to be a change of policy, that will be a good opportunity to make it clear, that it has changed".
Mr Vaz said ID cards for foreign nationals were effectively being used as a pilot to "see whether or not the information is then subsequently lost". Mr Vaz said ID cards for foreign nationals, which are being introduced later this year, were effectively being used as a pilot to "see whether or not the information is then subsequently lost".
"I don't think they can take another major loss of data in this way and that's why the select committee is going to look at it again," he added."I don't think they can take another major loss of data in this way and that's why the select committee is going to look at it again," he added.
The current scheme will see anyone applying for a passport having to give their biometric details for a national identity register, although it will be possible to opt-out of getting a card until January 2010.
Brown challenged
But the government has always said a Commons vote would be held to make the scheme compulsory for all UK residents if Labour won the next election.
The Home Office website says that the cards will become compulsory for all to have, and Tony Blair said, when he was prime minister, that making the cards compulsory would form a "major plank" of Labour's next manifesto.
But there has been speculation Mr Brown might do a U-turn on the issue, and in a weekend press interview he suggested the scheme might not become compulsory for existing citizens.
Then at his monthly Downing Street media conference on Tuesday, Mr Brown the issue of compulsion was an "option" left "open" to a Commons vote.
In the Commons on Wednesday he was challenged to clarify his position by Tory leader David Cameron, who has said he would axe the scheme if he wins power.
Mr Brown said: "It is the government's policy to move ahead with this but subject, I have to tell him, to a vote in Parliament depending on how the voluntary scheme works."
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who introduced the initial identity card bill, told the BBC on Tuesday the scheme would not work unless everyone had to have a card.Former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who introduced the initial identity card bill, told the BBC on Tuesday the scheme would not work unless everyone had to have a card.
"In my opinion, without it being mandatory, there is little point in doing it," he added."In my opinion, without it being mandatory, there is little point in doing it," he added.