May 30, 2007 5:06PM 

# Rumors that the UK Will Abandon National ID 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Via [SecureID News](http://www.secureidnews.com/weblog/2007/05/30/uks-struggles-with-national-id-cards-continue-amid-political-uncertainty/), [pol​i​tics​.co​.uk reports](http://www.politics.co.uk/news/features/labour-leadership/calls-brown-confirm-id-card-future-$474272.htm) on speculation that incoming Prime Minister Gordon Brown will abandon the UK’s national identification card scheme.

Back-handed encouragement for that has come in an open letter to Brown from Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis:

> As chancellor you already bear responsibility for the £58 million of taxpayers money wasted on this expensive white elephant.…Experts in the field warn that, far from making us more secure, ID cards risk making us less safe. By clustering a mass of personal information in one place, ID cards will make us a prize target for hackers, fraudsters and terrorists.

Almost a year ago, the Sunday Times reported on leaked emails showing that the [UK national ID scheme is in collapse](https://www.cato.org/2006/07/10/uk-national-id-in-collapse-us-national-id-to-follow/). Much like the U.S. scheme is now.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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