Former MI5 Chief's Comments on ID Cards

The motion

That the Parliament agrees with comments by Dame Stella Rimington, former MI5 Director General, that ID cards are documents that could be easily forged and are therefore effectively useless in efforts to end terrorism; notes that Dame Stella further commented that people working for intelligence services, particularly MI5, would be unlikely to press for ID cards; further notes that, of the 25 countries that have been most adversely affected by terrorism since 1986, 80% have national identity cards, one third of which incorporate biometrics; believes that the introduction of the UK Identity Cards Bill will be a costly, impractical and ineffective response to the problems of security and fraud, and calls on the UK Government to drop its current proposals for ID cards and a national identity database.


No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 8 Green 4 SSP 4 LD 3 Ind 3 Con 3

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S2M-03597 by reference.