Background on The UK Entitlement Card

27/06/2003

In September 2001, following the tragic events in the United States, Home Secretary David Blunkett said that the government was "very seriously" considering introducing a card. He told The Guardian, "I am giving it a fairly high priority. It would be quite wrong to make a snap announcement when we have not had the chance to think through the implications. There are much broader issues about entitlement and citizenship and not just security to be considered." The Observer reported on 30 September that an mandatory ID card will be introduced, "to use public services, including schools and hospitals, under plans being drawn up by the Home Office."

A hastily commissioned poll conducted just a few days after the event by News of the World found that 85% of Britons supported a national ID card but as with a similar 1989 poll, the level of support dropped as the public understanding improves.

Opposition grew quickly. Former Home Office Minister Mike O'Brian said,

Ministers have recognised that our aim is to seek to protect freedom and democracy, and therefore each time we are forced to undermine these values, terrorists will claim it as a victory.

Scotland's Justice Minister Jim Wallace vowed to oppose the plan in Scotland, challenging the right of Westminster to impose the cards on Scotland. The Liberal Democrats expressed concern over the ID card proposal. Charles Kennedy noted, "If Britain or America had ID cards it would not have done anything to stop what the head-cases did."

This lead to Blunkett backing down from his proposal in October 2001.

In February 2002, it returned as an "entitlement card" designed to help people obtain government services.

In July, Home Secretary David Blunkett released the consultation paper on the "entitlement card", a renamed ID card that while having all the characteristics of a national ID card, was not actually a national ID card, even though all people over 16 will be required to have one under penalty of law and it will be required for heath care, getting a job and other "entitlements". The only concession for the moment is that people would not be required to carry it at all times. The consultation is supposed to run until January and Blunkett claims that no decision has been made but he admitted that he is enthusiastic" about adopting it. When questioned about it, Blunkett also said, "this is degenerating into a contest with intellectual pygmies."

Response to the card has been highly critical across the political spectrum. It has been criticized by Labour backbenchers and leaders of Conservative, Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalists parties. The shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said, "In place of clarity and definition, we have here obscurity and spin." There have been editorials against it in the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, and Sun, among other papers.

2001-03 Documents and News Stories

Home Office Consultation Paper, July 2002. Comments Due 31 January 2003

• Home Office Entitlement Cards Unit
• Home Office,Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud Frequently Asked Questions
• Home Secretary Blunkett, "It is perfectly possible to protect personal privacy and still establish our identities", in The Times, July 04, 2002.
• Beverley Hughes, Home Office, Today Programme Transcript , July 3, 2002.
• House of Commons debate, July 3, 2002.
• House of Commons, Answers to questions, February 5, 2002
  

Other Campaign Groups

• Stand Entitlement Card Response Generator
• Liberty & Charter 88 brochure, ID Cards: Arguments Against.
• Liberty, "Universal entitlement cards are compulsory IDs: the Government does not trust its citizens", 3rd July, 2002
• Charter 88, Press Release, June 3, 2002
• Libertarian Alliance, "Identity Cards: Assault on Civil Liberties and Waste of Taxpayers' Money", July 6, 2002.
  
• Charter 88, Arguments Against page
• Liberty, Identity Crisis: The Anti-ID Card Campaign
  

Newspaper Editorials and opinions

• Difficult card, Times editorial, July 4, 2002.
  
  "Mr Blunkett is entitled to a fair hearing over the next six months. But this plan is a gamble and he seems to have very few winning cards in his hand."
  
  
• Labour's identity crisis, Daily Telegraph, July 4, 2002.
  
  "The Home Office is not institutionally racist, but it is institutionally illiberal. The very name "entitlement card" is odious, implying as it does that our liberties are in the gift of the state."
  
  
• Wrong tack, The Sun, July 4, 2002.
  
  The huge cost of cards would be better spent on more police and customs officers to keep unwanted immigrants out. The Tories dumped this idea when they realised it was a dud. Blunkett should follow suit."
  
  
• ID or not ID: what the papers say, The Observer, June 6, 2002.
  
  
• Identity Split, The Daily Record, July 4, 2002.
• Suspects or citizens  - ID cards foster intrusion not rights, The Guardian, July 4, 2002. 
• The real identity crisis: Entitlement cards would impinge on our basic rights, The Herald, July 4, 2002. 
• Brian Monteith, MSP, Why little people must fight big ID, Edinburgh Evening News, July 5, 2002.
• Matthew Parris, The nonsensical world of New Labourspeak, The Times, July 6, 2002.
• Kaizer Nyatsumba: There is no need to panic about identity cards, The Independent, July 4, 2002.
• Peter Lilley, ID cards - a dumb idea and dangerous too,The Observer, June 30, 2002.
• Nick Cohen, Blunkett's identity crisis, The Observer, June 30, 2002.
  

2002 News Stories

• Watchdog warns on identity cards, FT, July 16, 2002.
• Mafia will hack entitlement cards, VuNet, July 8, 2002.
• Health risk warning over ID cards, The Guardian, July 5, 2002.
• State racism' fears over ID cards, BBC, July 4, 2002.
• Blunkett backs ID card plan, BBC, July 4, 2002.
• Blunkett puts his cards on the table, The Guardian, July 4, 2002.
• Scheme meets criticism across the political spectrum, The Guardian, July 4, 2002.
• Privacy fear over ID plans. The Guardian, July 4, 2002.
• Commons uproar over identity cards move, The Herald, July 4, 2002.
• Blunkett admits his enthusiasm for universal ID cards, The Independent, July 4, 2002.
• Cost of driving licences may double to pay for identity cards, The Independent, July 4, 2002.
• ID card idea 'shows lack of trust in citizens', The Journal/icNewcastle, June 4, 2002.
• ID cards: Blunkett reveals the 'entitlement card', The Independent, July 3, 2002.
• Will we carry the card?, BBC, July 3, 2002.
• IT supplier trashes ID card scheme, Computing, July 3, 2002.
• British ID cards to revolutionise crime, The Register, July 3, 2002.
• 'ID card' opposition warning, BBC, July 1, 2002.
• Rights fear over ID cards, BBC, July 1, 2002.
• Move towards compulsory ID cards, BBC, February 5, 2002.
• Asylum seekers given 'smart' ID cards, BBC, January 31,2002

2001 News Stories

• Blunkett retreats in battle over ID cards, Daily Telegraph, October 2, 2001.
• Compulsory ID cards 'ruled out', BBC, October 1, 2001.
• Wallace to fight plan for ID cards, The Sunday Times, September 30, 2001.
• Compulsory ID cards to access schools, hospitals,The Observer, September 30, 2001.
• No idea behind IDs, The Observer, September 30, 2001.
• ID cards 'would not stop the terrorists', The Telegraph, September 26, 2001.
• Alarm over ID cards,The Telegraph, September 25, 2001.
• A question of identity, BBC, September 25, 2001.
• Un-British or vital? The ID debate, The Guardian, September 25, 2001.
• Brits want ID cards, not worried about privacy, The Register, September 24, 2001.
• Blunkett puts the case for identity cards, Financial Times, September 23 2001.
• Draconian curbs may include ID cards, The Guardian, September 24, 2001.
  

Related:
UK ID Cards Home Page
UK ID Card Proposals Consultation Paper Released (PDF)