Lost identity?

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said identity cards will not be compulsory for UK citizens. Here's a guide to what it means for the multi-billion pound identity scheme. What did Mr Johnson actually say? He says he wants ID cards to be voluntary for British citizens. The government had originally wanted them to be compulsory - and planned to use hundreds of thousands of airport workers and pilots as guinea pigs for such a scheme. This was scaled back to workers at Manchester and London City airports - but even that has now been scrapped following a campaign by trade unions. Now the only people who will be forced to have ID cards are foreign national workers - so far 50,000 have them. Does this mean ID cards have been scrapped? But if they are not going to be compulsory, what is the point of them? That's what a lot of ID... [read full story]                    

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