Britain drops plans to make ID cards compulsory
* ID card will not be made compulsory for Britons
* Change to bring 30 pct savings
* Some foreign nationals will still need card
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday it was dropping plans to bring in compulsory biometric identity cards for airport workers and that the multi-billion pound scheme would remain voluntary for all Britons.
Home Secretary (interior minister) Alan Johnson said the Labour government was going ahead with the introduction of the 30 pound ($50) cards, which contain personal details, fingerprints and a facial image, but ruled out making them compulsory.
Civil rights campaigners and opposition politicians have long opposed the project, saying it was unnecessary, expensive and an intrusion into private life.
The Conservative Party, ahead in the polls and tipped to win the next election due by mid-2010, has pledged to scrap the scheme as part of public spending cuts to help deal with Britain's spiralling debt.
"Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens -- just as it is now to obtain a passport," Johnson said in a written parliamentary statement.
Under the government's original plans, the cards were to be issued this year to airside staff at Manchester and London City airports, to the ire of unions, before the project was rolled out across Britain by 2012.
Further legislation would have been required before the cards were made compulsory but the government had indicated that its aim was for all Britons to be covered by the scheme.
COST SAVINGS
Johnson, who moved to the home office in a government reshuffle earlier this month, said the project would now be voluntary but its rollout would be accelerated.
Johnson said the scheme was now expected to cost 30 percent less than the most recent estimate. The figure previously given was 4.7 billion pounds over the next decade. Continued...
