Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals for the establishment of a national identity card scheme.

Caroline Nokes, Minister of State for Immigration: In 2010 the then Government decided to scrap the identity card scheme and the associated National Identity Register because it was expensive and represented a substantial erosion of civil liberties.

This Government has no plans to revisit that decision.

We have not seen any evidence that countries with physical identity cards, including most of Europe, offer greater protection against terrorism, greater control at the border or greater protection from fraud.

Hansard

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