Government backtracks on compulsory ID cards

Airport workers will no longer be forced to carry identity cards, but rollout of voluntary scheme to citizens is to be accelerated

ID cards: voluntary for UK citizens

The government has made yet another U-turn on the ID cards scheme by dropping plans to make the cards compulsory for the first UK citizens that would have carried them.

Airport workers in Manchester and London City airports were due to trial the controversial programme, and were chosen because of the sensitive security surrounding airside staff.

But home secretary Alan Johnson has announced that the cards in the trial will no longer be compulsory – which critics will point to as undermining the whole principle of the initiative. Trade unions had been fiercely opposed to the idea of compulsory cards for their members.

Johnson also scrapped plans to one day make cards compulsory for everyone, and said: "Holding an ID card should be a personal choice for British citizens, just as it is now to hold a passport."

As a result, only foreign nationals in the UK will face having mandatory ID cards – so far about 50,000 have been issued.

The move came as part of a somewhat contradictory announcement by the home secretary that the rollout of identity cards is to be speeded up.

The cards were already due to be available to residents of Greater Manchester later this year, and now people across the north-west will be able to apply early in 2010.

Johnson said the accelerated rollout is designed to “highlight the benefits of identity cards to those who need them most”.

"There will be significant benefits to individuals from holding an identity card, which will become the most convenient, secure and affordable way of asserting identity in everyday life. Identity cards will also be valid for travel throughout Europe in place of a British passport,” he said.

"That is why I have announced today that I intend to see their introduction speeded up. The benefits are not just for individuals, but also for communities where a reliable proof of age will be invaluable in the fight against underage drinking and young people trying to buy knives.”

Johnson’s announcements come after widespread speculation about the future of the scheme, and rumours that he was less enthusiastic about ID cards than his predecessors.

The Tories claimed last week that key statutory instruments required before the scheme can proceed have still to be laid before Parliament, with just three weeks before MPs leave Westminster for their summer holidays. Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said they would scrap the scheme if they came into power.

And a major IT contract for producing the cards themselves has been delayed until autumn 2010, after the next General Election.

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Grayling claimed Johnson had decided to beat "a partial retreat" and that this was "symbolic of a goverment in chaos".

"They have spent millions on the scheme so far. The home secretary thinks it has been a waste and wants to scrap it, but the prime minister won't let him. We end up with an absurd fudge instead," he said.