New UK Home Secretary to push ID cards plan

Britain's new Home Secretary Charles Clarke said yesterday he was determined to introduce identity cards as part of the fight against terrorism, despite a possible rebellion from within his own party.

Writing in the Times newspaper, Mr Clarke blasted critics of the proposals as being guilty of "liberal woolly thinking" and said ID cards would carry advantages beyond their use as a security tool.

Britain abolished ID cards more than 50 years ago but the Labour government under Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to reintroduce them in 2007, after the next general election.

The cards, anathema to some British civil liberties groups, are not expected to be made compulsory until about 2013.

"My commitment to the principle of ID cards is very strong and will not waver, mainly because I think that they will help to make everyone a bit safer, at no real cost to civil liberties," Mr Clarke wrote.

"I believe some critics... are guilty of liberal woolly thinking and spreading false fears when they wrongly claim that ID cards will erode civil liberties... will usher in the Big Brother society".