FT.com / Home UK - Labour races to introduce ID cards 

Labour plans to race forward with the contentious identity cards scheme to ensure the multi-billion pound infrastructure is up and running before the next election, neutering a Tory pledge to scrap it.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, this month said that ID cards were a monument to over-mighty government. "I promise you this - in office, we will pull it down," he said.

But Andy Burnham, the home office minister responsible for the scheme, said Mr Cameron's "throwaway line" would be rendered irrelevant by the rapid roll-out of the scheme. He said it would be a fait accompli by the 2008 or 2009 expected date of the next general election. "I'm keen to see plenty of ID cards in circulation come the next election," he said. "The whole
landscape will have changed by the time if - and it's a big if - the Tories ever get anywhere near power."

The Home Office is gearing up rapidly to start the multi-billion pound procurement process. Mr Burnham predicted companies would be keen to tender now the scheme had the necessary legal authority. The ID cards bill made it to the statute books on March 30 after a tortuous passage through Parliament. "Everything's changing now we've got royal assent [for the
bill]. The private sector's engagement will change radically in the next few months," Mr Burnham said.

Critics said the rush to push it through could exacerbate the risks of such a large information technology project. "Whitehall's record of running large IT schemes has been more than lamentable," Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said. However, companies considering bidding for work on the scheme appeared undaunted by the Tory threat.

Malcolm Stirling, executive for public services at CSC, said any breach clauses in the ID cards contracts would be examined "more closely than we might have done otherwise".