Plans dropped for compulsory ID cards

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - The government said on Tuesday it was dropping plans to bring in compulsory biometric identity cards for airport workers and that the multi-billion pound scheme would remain voluntary.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the government was going ahead with the introduction of the 30 pound cards, which contain personal details, fingerprints and a facial image, but ruled out making them compulsory.

Civil rights campaigners and opposition politicians have long opposed the project, saying it was unnecessary, expensive and an intrusion into private life.

The Conservative Party, ahead in the polls and tipped to win the next election due by mid-2010, has pledged to scrap the scheme as part of public spending cuts to help deal with the country's spiralling debt.

"Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens -- just as it is now to obtain a passport," Johnson said in a written parliamentary statement.

Under the government's original plans, the cards were to be issued this year to airside staff at Manchester and London City airports, to the ire of unions, before the project was rolled out by 2012.

Further legislation would have been required before the cards were made compulsory but the government had indicated that its aim was for all Britons to be covered by the scheme.

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