THE Government should win tonight’s vote on the ID cards Bill, but it has not yet won the argument. The public may be sympathetic, but not the elites. Tony Blair’s defence of ID cards was half-hearted yesterday. “I didn’t come into politics to introduce ID cards.” Or to invade Iraq, one assumes.

Mr Blair’s case was based on necessity rather than principle. There was less talk about the need for ID cards as a defence against terrorism, illegal immigrants and social security fraud. It was a classic Fabian view, the inevitability of gradualness. EU members, the US and Canada, are bringing in biometric passports in the next few years. This made it “an ideal time” to introduce hi-tech ID cards at a small extra cost.

Judging by the exchanges at Home Office questions yesterday, Charles Clarke still has a lot of explaining to do. First, on cost, the central estimate in the LSE study, strongly disputed by ministers, is twice as high as official figures. Second, serious libertarian worries remain. For some, this is an absolute issue of personal freedom, almost of Britishness.

Mr Clarke has to show that the benefits outweigh threats to privacy and costs. The Government’s point on the spread of biometric passports is strong but it has yet to demonstate the unequivocal benefits of compulsory cards for all.

There are two ways out of this impasse. First, if the Bill gets a second reading, it should go to a special standing committee which would allow MPs to question experts about the cost and feasibility of the technology. Second, Mr Clarke could set a threshold for voluntary acceptance of the new ID card/passport before there is any move to a compulsion. This is in addition to the further parliamentary vote on compulsion already set out in the Bill.

Such a threshold would test the level of public support. If ID cards really are “an idea whose time has come”, as Mr Blair claimed yesterday, then let the market decide before everyone is forced to have one.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Sacha Baron Cohen forced to tone down Brüno