Non-Subscriber Extract
Former commissioner backs ID cards
By Max Blain
10 March 2008
A former Met commissioner has thrown his support behind the Government's controversial proposals for ID cards, saying they would help tighten up border control.
Lord John Stevens, who is also the prime minister's senior advisor on national security, said he 'strongly supports' Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's plans to record the fingerprints of any over-16s who apply for a passport.
Facial scans would also be recorded on the national identity register due to brought in from 2011. Prior to this the Government wants to make ID cards compulsory for all non-EU foreign nationals coming to the UK from 2008 and from next year more than 200,000 airports workers will need to have the cards as a condition of employment.
Speaking at the European Serious Organised Crime conference in Liverpool on 6 March, Lord Stevens said the Government's plans were a 'move in the right direction', however he said much more had to be done to secure the borders of the UK and Europe.
Image: Lord John Stevens (Andrew Carruth)