Orders of the Day — Identity Cards Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 5:08 pm on 20 December 2004.

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Photo of Charles Clarke Charles Clarke Home Secretary 5:08, 20 December 2004

On the second point, I simply do not accept that view. We have had a series of increasingly sophisticated means of identifying and recognising people's individual characteristics. As all experts will acknowledge, having the biometric measure is superior to not having it. As I said to my hon. Friend Mrs. Dunwoody with regard to personal identification number schemes for credit cards, the numeric system is superior to what existed before, but it is not as good as a biometric system. The question that we face is: do we follow the process of trying to get superior systems and carry the matter forward on that basis?

On the point about terrorism, I hope that there will be no dispute about the fact that there are people who try to mislead about their identity and history as they conduct their terrorist activity in their terrorist organisation. A system that identifies people more effectively will be more successful at tackling terrorism.

Annotations

James Berry
Posted on 22 Dec 2004 10:44 am (Report this annotation)

Yes, but will it be cost effective? And can it be misused in the future? (Clue: No and Yes)