Government admits 'overselling' ID cards

The Government has admitted "overselling" the advantages of national identity cards, according to an article on the BBC website.

The Home Office minister responsible for the project, Tony McNulty, told a left-wing think tank that ID cards would not be a panacea for terrorism or fraud.

However despite opposition to the scheme and the potential high costs, the government remained committed to introducing ID cards.

Mr McNulty is reported as telling the private seminar in Whitehall that in its "enthusiasm", the Government had over-emphasised the benefits to the state rather than for "the individual in providing a gold standard in proving your identity."

Mr McNulty also said that a battle between the Commons and the Lords about whether the cards become compulsory would end in deadlock.

The government's intended procedure for Parliament to approve the move, by which both the Commons and the Lords have to vote in favour, was "an algorithmic recipe for deadlock because it does not resolve the situation if one house says yes and the other says no", he said.

Full article: Labour admits ID card 'oversell' - BBC.