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ID cards face fresh Lords battle Plans to force all people renewing their passports to have an identity card are facing a renewed attack in the House of Lords. Opposition peers say the plans break the government's promise that the ID cards will initially be voluntary. They are engaged in a battle of wills with MPs, who have already overturned a Lords defeat on the issue. Ministers says ID cards are linked to biometric passports, which are being issued for the first time this week. 'Stealthy' The ID cards plans are controversial, with critics raising fears for civil liberties and saying the money spent on the system could be better used elsewhere. Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers are dropping their previous insistence that the scheme should not go ahead until the full costs of the project are revealed. But they are pressing on with their claim that the government is trying to introduce compulsory cards by stealth through the passport system. Ministers have said the cards will not be compulsory until there is a further vote of Parliament - and even then people will not have to carry them. But, under the plans, everybody applying for a new passport from 2008 will also be issued with an ID card. 'Major impact' Lord Strathclyde, the Tory leader in the Lords, said: "That fundamentally changes what the government said they were trying to do, which was to have a voluntary ID pass system. "We want to go back to an entirely voluntary scheme. The reason why this is so important is that, if we don't get it right, some 85% of the people of this country will be affected within the next five to six years." Lord Strathclyde said he accepted the Lords should not defeat the government on manifesto bills. "What we are doing this afternoon is obliging the government to stick by its manifesto, not oppose it," he added. But Home Affairs Minister Andy Burnham told BBC Radio 4's programme: "The manifesto says very clearly that we would seek to introduce ID cards incrementally as people renew their passports. It couldn't really have been clearer. "There will be no compulsion initially for people to have an ID card. "There is a good reason for doing it as we are, which is that the passport is changing." New passports Mr Burnham said the biometric information used on the new generation of passports should be governed by the same safeguards and rules to be used for the ID card register. The new biometric passports, also known as e-passports, will be introduced to all applicants by the end of August. It will include a electronic chip containing measurements of the holder's facial features, such as distances between the nose, eyes and mouth. The UK and other countries must introduce biometric passports by October to remain part of the US visa waiver scheme, which makes travel to America easier. ---------------------------------------------------
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