The April Fool ID Card Con

The ID cards bill is now on the statute book after receiving Royal Assent from the Queen. The new Identity and Passport Service (IPS), which will be in charge of managing the ID cards scheme, becomes operational today.

The Lib Dems have accused the Conservatives of being duped by Labour into backing the opt-out plan in a crunch Commons vote on Wednesday.

Home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said:

"Within hours of parading their so-called compromise the Home Office is already making it clear that it was little more than a tactical manoeuvre to ram this legislation through Parliament without any substantive change to the Draconian reach and financial costs of the ID database.

"It begs the question whether the Conservatives really knew what they were doing when they fell into line with Charles Clarke's ruse."

The compromise means that those who choose to opt out will still have to pay for the ID card - and have their fingerprints, iris scans and personal details taken and stored on the national identity register (NIR) when they get a new passport.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has announced that the Labour government will make the scheme compulsory if it wins the next general election and a new agency to issue passports and ID cards has already been set up.

But critics of the ID card scheme, including local Lib Dem activists Tim Prater, Darren Briddock and Sam Matthews, have vowed to fight on. Phil Booth, national co-ordinator for the No2ID campaign group, said the problem has always been the national identity database rather than the card.

He said: "Millions are already vehemently opposed. The Home Office will have to round them up and force them to be fingerprinted which will bring home to the public the true nature of the scheme. This is a self-destructive policy to dwarf the Poll Tax."