Commenting on today's announcement by Home Office Minister, Beverley Hughes, outlining plans for a compulsory national ID card, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said:


'At least Beverley Hughes has had the honesty to admit there will be nothing voluntary about this scheme. No-one can now be in any doubt that what is being proposed is a compulsory national identity card. To obtain a biometric passport one must first prove identity using existing documentation. Criminals will obtain a passport with a false name but a 'genuine' iris scan.Rather than tackle identity fraud this scheme will help legitimise it.'