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13/02/2006
Blair to miss crucial ID card vote
The Prime Minister is to miss today's crucial Commons vote on ID card legislation due to a plane problem in South Africa.
Tony Blair had arranged to cut short a trip to a summit in Pretoria, South Africa to be present for the vote, but was unable to return to the UK today as a problem had developed in the plane he was to use.
Downing street confirmed that Mr Blair would miss today's vote as the aircraft had developed a technical fault in one of its engines shortly before take-off.
Last month the Labour Government faced down a defeat by one vote in its Religious Hatred Bill, a vote Mr Blair also missed.
The Government are currently battling a Lords amendment that will make the ID card scheme voluntary and concessions have already been made in a bid to get more MPs to back the proposals for the scheme.
The Lords main opposition to the Bill is based on the cost of the scheme and provisions for security of stored personal data.
Ministers have already conceded that for the cards to be made compulsory new legislation will have to be drafted and brought before parliament.
The chancellor Gordon Brown has said that ID cards are vital in the fight against terrorism and identity fraud. He pointed out that terrorist often have multiple identities which means that they cannot be easily identified.
The £30 high-tech cards initially issued in tandem with passports will store unique biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris scans, which can be compared with a national database of all adults in the UK.
However, civil rights groups opposed to the ID card scheme are due to protest outside parliament today.
(SP)
Tony Blair had arranged to cut short a trip to a summit in Pretoria, South Africa to be present for the vote, but was unable to return to the UK today as a problem had developed in the plane he was to use.
Downing street confirmed that Mr Blair would miss today's vote as the aircraft had developed a technical fault in one of its engines shortly before take-off.
Last month the Labour Government faced down a defeat by one vote in its Religious Hatred Bill, a vote Mr Blair also missed.
The Government are currently battling a Lords amendment that will make the ID card scheme voluntary and concessions have already been made in a bid to get more MPs to back the proposals for the scheme.
The Lords main opposition to the Bill is based on the cost of the scheme and provisions for security of stored personal data.
Ministers have already conceded that for the cards to be made compulsory new legislation will have to be drafted and brought before parliament.
The chancellor Gordon Brown has said that ID cards are vital in the fight against terrorism and identity fraud. He pointed out that terrorist often have multiple identities which means that they cannot be easily identified.
The £30 high-tech cards initially issued in tandem with passports will store unique biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris scans, which can be compared with a national database of all adults in the UK.
However, civil rights groups opposed to the ID card scheme are due to protest outside parliament today.
(SP)
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