ID Card scheme to be scrapped next year?

happygeek 0 369 Views

The privacy invading nonsense that is the controversial UK ID Card Scheme could be scrapped by this time next year. With the chances of the Labour Party being returned to power looking very slim indeed, the chances are that a Conservative Government will be voted in. Which is good news for privacy campaigners as the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling MP, has confirmed that his party will scrap the ID Card Scheme if and when it gets elected.

The suppliers which have been bidding for the contracts to provide ID Cards have all been contacted by Mr Grayling who has warned them to not bother with further contract negotiations as the plans will be kicked to the kerb when the Tories win the general election.

In a statement on the Conservative Party website, Grayling says "we intend to scrap the ID card project as one of our first acts if we are successful at the election" adding a warning about making contractual arrangements with the current Government by stating "I want to make the contractors absolutely aware that we do not intend to complete this work."

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As notes, this thread covers a political pledge to abandon the national ID programme. That promise raises three practical questions the OP does not detail: what happens to contracts and public spending, what becomes of personal and biometric data already collected, and what steps affected parties should take right now. The paragraphs below offer focused, practical points to fill those gaps.

Cancellation of a large government IT programme normally follows a tidy sequence: an immediate administrative pause on new activity, a legal/procurement review, and then formal contract termination or renegotiation. That process can still create taxpayer liabilities (termination payments, transition costs) while the contracting authority seeks to mitigate loss. Contractors should therefore preserve invoices, delivery records and change requests; public bodies should prepare an exit plan for hardware, software and licences.

Data and privacy are the headline issue for individuals. The authority that collected information will have to justify retention or publish a secure-deletion timetable under data‑protection rules, and an independent audit or regulator involvement is common. People who enrolled should keep any receipts or confirmation numbers and be ready to submit subject access or deletion requests once an official decision and a named data controller are identified.

Practical immediate steps:

  • For citizens: keep enrollment paperwork; note dates/locations; demand written confirmation of deletion when a plan is published.
  • For contractors: review termination and liability clauses now; document mitigation efforts and preserve evidence for any claims.
  • For public bodies: compile an asset/data inventory, costed exit options and a data‑handling timetable for publication.
  • For observers: watch parliamentary records and formal departmental statements — political pledges do not become law until enacted.

Until formal repeal or cancellation is published, treat operational changes as provisional. Preparing documentation and clarifying who controls the data will speed resolution once the government acts.

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