UK ID card: The basics

Expressed concerns about national security and fear of terror arising from within the UK, motivated a proposed national identity card for all UK citizens, earlier this decade. This system has largely been dismantled now, but here is a brief guide to what was proposed, and what remains of the plan.

ID Cards Act

2006 Parliament
In 2006 Parliament, through the Identity Cards Act, it was ordered that each UK resident should carry a National Identity Card, a picture card which would serve as an identity document and a European Union travel document. NIR The Act further specified that each issued card would be linked to the National Identity Register (NIR), which could contain fifty (or potentially more) types of information about the card holder, including fingerprints and personal details on all current and previous places of residence anywhere in the world. Card holders were required to update the government whenever their circumstances (e.g. address or employment status) changed, and a £1,000 penalty would be levied on anyone who failed to do so.

Objections to the scheme

Civil society objections Civil society objections to the introduction of ID cards were vocal. Political activists, human rights lawyers and opposition politicians objected to the proposed costs, questioned whether the scheme would be of any benefit in combating terrorism, and insisted that the intrusion in card holder’s private lives was disproportionate to any possible benefit. There were also concerns that, far from preventing identity theft, the ID card system could make it more prevalent.
Other claims The Information Commissioner famously questioned whether Britain was ‘sleepwalking into a surveillance society’. Prompted by a number of high-profile security breaches, some involving sensitive information being left on public transport, the public also questioned whether the government could be trusted to manage its data in a responsible way.

Scrapping the scheme

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government promised to scrap the scheme soon after election. The Identity Documents Act 2010 dismantled the scheme and required that all information on the NIR should be deleted, early in 2011. Anyone who had purchased a card would be permitted to retain it, but it would cease to be a valid form of identification.

Residual effects

Foreign nationals resident in the UK are still required to hold identification cards. These function as biometric residence permits, and accordingly, some data about foreign nationals will be held by the UK government.