Govt ID card plan is "badly thought out", says MPs' group.

The Commons Home Affairs Commitee, although backing the principle of an ID card, has described the government's plans as badly thought out:

Plans for introducing ID cards in the UK are poorly thought out and vital details are still unclear, say MPs.

The Commons home affairs committee says ID cards should go ahead and can help fight organised crime and terrorism.

But it criticises a "lack of clarity" over how the scheme will work in practice, with too much information kept secret by ministers.

The committee's report is available online.

2 committee members voted to reject the ID cards on principal:

Two MPs on the committee, Labour's David Winnick and Liberal Democrat Bob Russell, voted to reject ID cards on principle.

Mr Russell said the unknown cost of the scheme, which could be "several billions", would be better spent on police recruitment and surveillance.

I intend to produce some detailed comment on the Committee's report later. I'd be most interested to see if they provide any actual evidence or argument for the contention that an ID card can help at all with terrorism. To date, I've yet to see the government or any other backer of such cards explain this (as opposed to merely asserting it).