British govt wins crucial votes on ID cards
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-14 09:15

The British government won two crucial rounds of parliamentary votes as lawmakers in the lower House of Commons debated controversial plans to introduce identity cards.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour party successfully fought off a move to make the take-up of ID cards entirely voluntary on application for or renewal of a British passport from 2008.

The amendment to the Identity Cards Bill -- which has drawn strong criticism from civil liberties campaigners and rebel Labour members of parliament -- was proposed by the unelected upper chamber House of Lords last month.

But in the first vote, MPs voted to overturn the Lords' amendment by 310 votes to 279 -- a 31 majority. In a second vote on a similar amendment, the government won by 310 to 259 -- a majority of 51.

The vote ensures that the Bill will go back to the upper chamber, with members there now having to decide whether to back down or stand firm.

Prime Minister Tony Blair missed the vote after a fault with his plane delayed him in South Africa, where he has been attending a mini-summit on world poverty.

An undated handout photograph from the British Home Office shows a proposed government identity card. [AFP]

Although compulsory ID cards are the norm in many countries, Britain has had no such system since shortly after World War II. Opponents argue the cards are an unnecessary -- and costly -- infringement of civil liberties.

David Davis, the main opposition Conservative Party's home affairs spokesman, warned ID cards would see Britain "sleepwalking into a surveillance state".

His opposite number for the smaller Liberal Democrats, Alistair Carmichael, accused Labour of reneging on a pledge not make ID cards compulsory, describing the passport-linked scheme as "compulsion by the backdoor".

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said a stand-alone ID card would cost 30 pounds (44 euros, 52 dollars), while one linked to a passport would cost 93 pounds.

But a London School of Economics report estimated the cards -- which would contain biometric details such as a person's fingerprints, iris or facial scans -- could cost up to 300 pounds each.

The vote on ID cards is just one of several controversial votes the government faces in the coming days, including on the "glorification" of terrorism and the extension of a ban on smoking to cover all pubs and clubs.

Education reform is also coming up.

Last month the government suffered a double defeat in parliament on a key part of legislation to combat religious hatred, even though Blair could have swung one of the votes had he turned up to cast his own.

It was Blair's third such legislative defeat since coming to power in 1997, but the first only occurred last year, raising speculation that his grip on power was beginning to slip.