Airport ID card scheme grounded

Workers at Manchester Airport will not be forced to trial the controversial identity card scheme after the Government dropped plans to make the cards compulsory.

Newly-appointed Home Secretary Alan Johnson said British citizens will never be made to carry ID cards but it would be up to an individual if they wanted to.

He made the promise in his first major speech in his new role as he ditched the trial scheme that would have required airport staff at Manchester to pilot the controversial scheme.

Previously, ministers said ID cards could become compulsory once 80% of the population was covered.

Mr Johnson said: “Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens — just as it is now to obtain a passport.

“Accordingly, I want the introduction of identity cards for all British citizens to be voluntary and I have therefore decided that identity cards issued to airport workers, planned initially at Manchester and London City airports later this year, should also be voluntary.”

Asked if the cards would ever be made compulsory he said: “No. If a future Government wanted to make them compulsory it would require primary legislation.” 

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen said: “In the middle of a recession the government are looking to save money - the escalating cost of implementing this scheme even on a voluntary basis cannot be justified. The Government has repeatedly claimed that ID cards would stop terrorism; however, the terrorists who attacked New York on 11 September 2001 all had valid identification documents. I have vehemently campaigned against the trial introduction of the cards in Manchester as a waste of money and a dangerous concentration of information.”

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This is a victory for union campaigning. Unions will be pleased that ministers will no longer be making it compulsory for pilots, cabin crew and baggage handlers at the two trial airports to apply for ID cards.

“Unions have had reservations about the pilot scheme from the very beginning, fearing that compulsory ID cards would add little to airport security, but could end up risking the jobs of individuals who refused to comply and deterring new recruits from applying for airport jobs in Manchester and London.”

If the Conservatives win a 2010 general election they have pledged to scrap the scheme altogether.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This decision is symbolic of a Government 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. So we end up with an absurd fudge instead. This is no way to run the country.”