Proceeding contribution from Alan Johnson (Labour) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. It occurred during Debate on bill on Identity Documents Bill.
Identity Documents Bill
That intervention was not worth waiting for. We put considerable effort into securing our borders. As he represents Dover, he will know that the chief constable of Kent has seen the number of illegal immigrants roving around the county reduced by 92% since my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) went over and did a deal with Sarkozy, who was then the Interior Minister, and shut down Sangatte. We have taken every measure possible. If the hon. Gentleman is interested in the security of his constituents in Dover, I tell him that I am talking about the current Government abandoning second-generation biometric passports, probably on the basis of a decision at the hippy commune known as the Liberal Democrat conference. That is an incredible decision. On funding, the Government claim that scrapping the scheme will produce an initial £84 million in savings in the next four years. I would be extremely interested to learn how the Home Secretary came to that figure. On none of the statistics I saw when I was doing her job only three weeks ago does that make sense. Seventy per cent. of the start-up costs for ID cards are linked to first-generation biometric passports, to ensure that they fall into line with international standards. Those costs are unavoidable and the money is committed, so where does the £84 million come from?
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 511 c360
- Session
- 2010-12
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Disclosure of information Compensation Civil liberties Databases Biometrics Costs Fraud Genetics Identity cards Organised crime Personation National identity register Proof of identity Passports Terrorism
- Legislation
- Identity Documents Bill 2010-12
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
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