'budget' identity card

The scheme was agreed by the Cabinet yesterday, ahead of the next stage of the passage of the ID card legislation through parliament. Ministers have seen the popularity of the scheme fade in repeated opinion polls after reports that the new combined passport/ID cards would cost around �93.

So they think that getting an ID card for 30 quid is going to help. Well it might but it is also possible that the shine has been taken off the scheme for too many people. This is still a way of getting people onto the national identity database [the biggest police-state move] with their biometrics. But why would we want to without compulsion? It makes ID theft easier if the weaknesses of the system can be exploited [and come on folks, I'm no criminal mastermind but I can figure out the weaknesses based on a biometric scan failure rate of up to 25%] - how does one take back an identity when the system supposes itself foolproof [it has to or there's no point doing it]?
And the costs have to be borne elsewhere, that means dearer passports, cos it's clear that in a [slight] recession with falling tax revenues and a budget balancing chancellor who might be PM one day, there's no subsidies likely.

STOP PRESS: there seems to be a lot of spin in what Mr Clark said, he gave the impression of a budget card but a closer analysis of what he said may say something else ...
Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Clarke announces new �30 'budget' identity card:On Del.icio.us: IDcards, cost, budget, subsidy, unpopularity, police-state