Blunkett and ex-CPS chief turn on Home Office
David Blunkett, who as Home Secretary led the government's push for compulsory ID cards, will tomorrow call for the scheme to be curtailed, according to a report.
Instead he will propose that only foreigners be made to hold an ID card. UK nationals should only be required to hold a passport, Blunkett will argue.
He will make the call during a speech on security and liberty at the University of Essex tomorrow, The Independent reports.
A coalition of campaign groups has put ministers under increasing pressure on civil liberties issues in recent weeks, set to culminate with the Convention on Modern Liberty at the end of this month. The House of Lords Constitution Committee recent report on surveillance society also chastised the government's record on civil liberties.
Blunkett will reject the "surveillance society" label, but urge a broad Labour rethink to counter the critics.
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