A victory

It would appear that someone in Whitehall has woken up to the unpopularity of ID cards. After rumours over the weekend that senior civil servants were casting doubts on the scheme, the BBC are today reporting

Doubt cast over ID cards' future

The ID card plan which Tony Blair has said is central to tackling terrorism could be scaled down as part of a "face saving exercise", leaked documents say. Officials say ministers are setting themselves up for failure and are "ignoring reality" by pressing ahead. The Sunday Times published documents suggesting ministers are engaged in a rethink, but the Home Office denies claims the plans are being ditched. Conservative spokesman David Davis says the whole scheme should be scrapped. But a Home Office spokesman said: "We're still committed to the introduction of the scheme.
"Any suggestion that we have abandoned ID cards is wrong. We've always made it clear that the introduction will be staged."

According to weekend press reports, ministers are being forced to rethink the plans in order to meet the deadline of phasing in the cards by 2008. Shadow home secretary Mr Davis said: "These are all the classic signs of a Whitehall IT project about to go disastrously wrong. These civil servants can see plainly what the government refuses to accept. The prime minister's obsession with this project will actually weaken our security and cost at least £20bn."

Of course, Mr Bliar doesn't want to lose face over the issue and will use all sorts of euphemisms, blaming IT for example

the process of putting contracts to establish the scheme out to tender - which software suppliers expected in March - has been put back indefinitely.

but down on planet earth is there really any doubt that a major factor has been the thousands of people who have pledged to resist the scheme? People power my friends, never underestimate it.

A note of caution though. The NO2ID campaign point out that, although we may not have ID cards the plans for a 'national database' continue. Renew your passport now and continue to be a thorn in the side of this fascist government.