David Davis

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David Davis is the Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden and the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

Career

Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden (has served in Parliament since 1987).

Issues

Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill

See also Davis MP v Secretary Of State For The Home Department

On the debate on DRIP:

It is a particular pleasure to follow my old sparring partner from east Yorkshire on this as much as on any other issue.

As I have only a short time, I shall focus on one issue alone out of the four that affect the Bill. When this Government brought a different but related Bill before the House, the so-called snooper’s charter, it was, frankly, an embarrassment. It was pilloried by the Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Data Bill and heavily criticised by both MPs and Lords. One clear fact that arose from that review was that many thought that RIPA, the Bill upon which this legislation is based, was simply not fit for purpose, that it was too loose, and that if the snooper’s charter came before the House at some later stage, many would use it to rewrite RIPA. Certainly many Liberals thought that, and a number of Conservatives too, and some Members of other parties. That may be one reason why the Government are uncomfortable about giving this Bill a full procedure over several weeks, with a proper Committee and Report stage, and so on; because they may find that they get a tighter definition of RIPA than they previously had.

The House knows that I am not a great fan of the British Government being told what to do by the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights. I much prefer that British liberties—our freedom, our privacy—are protected by Parliament. But the harsh truth is that Parliament has been a weak defender of our freedoms this past 20 years, and the process we face today, crashing the Bill through the Commons in a single day—even more poignantly on reshuffle day; I see the empty Benches around me—is an awful demonstration of that. One consequence of that slack attitude is that we have bumped more and more frequently into treaty obligations and international court judgments against us, where Britain should be the shining example, not the villain of the piece. The Bill does nothing to correct that.

The Court, as a number of speakers have mentioned, branded the untargeted mass collection of our data—European rather than just ours—as a

“wide-ranging and particularly serious interference with”

our

“fundamental rights.”

It is arguably the case that, in some ways, Britain is the most extreme example of that across western Europe. Because the Bill does nothing to correct that particular aspect, it is likely to face legal challenge, and may well fail as a result. It will not be beneficial to security in this country if that happens.

Much of this failure hinges on the fact that access to communication data in this country is not subject to judicial approval. It is one of the differences between ourselves and America and some other European countries. It is approved by officers of the same organisation that request it. The result of that—the point that I think Caroline Lucas was referring to—is that too many people have too much access, too easily, to too much data. That is the core point. Therefore, we use this power in that respect more often than many of our international colleagues.

There were 514,000 authorisations and notices reported in the RIPA 2013 report. It is difficult to compare countries, but to give a partial comparison—

Health data

Written answer

"To ask the Secretary of State for Health
(1) what steps he plans to take to increase the availability of clinical data for research. (2) what discussions he has had with the European Medicines Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency on whether clinical data should be published for the purposes of research."
"Clinical data and linked data, in a research-usable, anonymised format, is made available via the CPRD to a wide range of researchers for use in approved research projects. These research projects meet the needs of medicine/device regulators and as well the needs of commercial companies required under regulations to undertake specific research studies. … The anonymised data is published against a specific independently approved protocol written by researchers who are under legal contract to CPRD for access to the required dataset for each research study protocol."[1]

Communications Data Bill

Written Answer Telecommunications: Databases 01 November 2012

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her timetable is for (a) conducting and (b) publishing the evidence-based review of the retention of communications data.

Communications Capabilities Development Programme

Davis is publicly critical of the Communications Data Bill.[1] He is hugely concerned about the erosion of civil liberties, and especially privacy rights, in the UK.[2] He has spoken on the issue both within Parliament (criticising “the surveillance state”)[3] and outside Parliament, roundly berating government surveillance.[4]

Posed a question "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Internet Service Providers' Association has been included in consultation on the Communications Capabilities Development programme; and what steps have been taken to include all internet service providers in such discussions." 8 March 2012.[5] See all Parliamentary questions

Identity cards

Very very against ID Cards has formally pledge on behalf of the Conservatives to cancel ID card scheme.

DNA database

David Davis writing in the Sunday Times Beware the state’s ID card sharks 30 December 2007

The DNA database combines the worst of all worlds: 100,000 innocent children who should never have been on it, 26,000 police-collected samples left off it and half a million entries misrecorded.

David Davis said in Blair's swansong crime review a is total admission of failure 27 March 2007

"We would have great and grave concerns about any extension of the DNA database. This currently has no statutory basis and, sinisterly, the Government refuses to even have a debate about how it should operate."

Children's Digital Rights

"I am astonished to learn that fingerprinting of children is done at schools and for such a relatively minor matter of borrowing books from the school library. A major concern must be who would have access to this data and what happens to it after children leave the school. It is particularly wrong that this is being done without parents' consent" The Rt Hon David Davis MP, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, 27th July 2006

Discgate

David Davis writing in the Sunday Times Beware the state’s ID card sharks 30 December 2007

"Discgate" was the result of ministerial incompetence, but also flawed policy. As chancellor, Brown relentlessly pursued his forlorn vision of a "joined-up identity management regime" across public services. As prime minister, he continues this vain search, like an obsessed alchemist, for a giant database that his closest advisers ominously refer to as a "single source of truth".

Links

Education

Warwick and London Business School.

Prior Career

Executive at Tate & Lyle.

Contact Information

House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA; davisd@parliament.uk; 01482 657938.

News

2008-06-17 - The Guardian - David Davis is still right
Author: Henry Porter
Summary: Those who doubted the effectiveness of David Davis's resignation last week, saying it was a one-day stunt that would be quickly forgotten, have only to read Gordon Brown's speech to the IPPR today to see how big an impact Davis has had. The prime minister responded to all the main charges made by Davis from the steps of the House of Commons last week on 42-day pre-charge detention, ID cards, CCTV cameras and the DNA database.
2008-06-13 - BBC - David Davis resigns from Commons
Summary: Shadow home secretary David Davis has resigned as an MP, promising to fight to regain his seat on a platform of defending "British liberties". He listed the growth of the "database state," government "snooping" ID cards, the erosion of jury trials and other issues. "This cannot go on. It must be stopped and for that reason today I feel it is incumbent on me to make a stand," said Mr Davis.
2008-06-12 - BBC - David Davis 'is to resign as MP'
Summary: Shadow home secretary David Davis is set to resign as an MP, the BBC understands. He felt saddened and disgusted at the 42 day detention win - and is forcing a by election so he can fight what he's called the 'database state'
2008-06-09 - The Guardian - ID cards could help turn Britain into a surveillance society, warn MPs
Author: Nicholas Watt
Summary: A compulsory national identity card scheme could be used to monitor the movements of British citizens because of the dangers of "function creep", a committee of MPs warned yesterday. Britain is in danger of turning into a "surveillance society", the Commons home affairs select committee says in a report which calls on the government to promise that the multibillion-pound ID card scheme will not be used as a matter of routine to spy on people. ... David Davis, the shadow home secretary, told BBC1's The Politics Show: "We have the worst of all worlds. We have got the biggest DNA database, not just in the free world, but in the world, with over a million innocent people on it."
2008-06-05 - Computing - ID card critics query competitiveness of bidding process
Author: Tom Young
Summary: Last month's announcement that all five remaining suppliers bidding for £2bn-worth of contracts for the government’s ID card programme have gone through to the next round has prompted critics to question the rigour of the procurement process. The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has yet to reject a single bidder from the original shortlist of eight ­- Accenture, BAE Systems and Steria dropped out of their own accord ­- while CSC, EDS, Fujitsu, IBM and Thales all went through to the next round. ... As the suppliers were announced, the Tories reiterated their commitment to cancel the scheme if elected -­ having already written to suppliers to inform them of this earlier in the year. "Along with growing evidence of the risks and costs of ID cards, we have seen declining commercial interest, reflected in the dwindling numbers bidding for contracts," said shadow home affairs spokesman David Davis. The government has sought to allay these concerns by splitting up the scheme into a number of smaller projects, one of which it hopes to have completed before 2010. This is a system to provide an interim capability for the ID cards that are being issued in 2009 for certain critical workers and foreign nationals.
2008-05-27 - ZDNet - Fresh calls to bin ID cards as IT suppliers dwindle
Author: Nick Heath
Summary: The government is facing more calls to cancel its ID card scheme after it announced that all of the five remaining IT suppliers have now been short-listed to deliver the system. ... shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Along with growing evidence of the risks and costs of ID cards, we have seen declining commercial interest, reflected in the dwindling numbers bidding for contracts." "The case for ID cards has collapsed. Gordon Brown must now take a decision, bite the bullet and cancel this ill-fated project."
2008-03-11 - ZDNet - ID cards chief dismisses U-turn claims
Author: Nick Heath
Summary: The head of Britain's ID cards project and national identity database has defended the government's revised ID-card plans in the face of allegations of a U-turn, after the project was scaled back. ... Shadow home secretary David Davis launched a further attack, citing the risk of a massive data breach on the system. He said: "It is something very dangerous the government [is] doing. We would cancel this database."
2008-03-05 - Computing - First compulsory ID cards to be announced, claim Tories
Summary:Shadow home secretary David Davis said he believed Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will announce on Thursday plans tomorrow to make identity cards compulsory for airport workers. 100,000 airside staff are expected to be covered in a statement, which is thought to be in line with leaks last month indicating a national rollout is being postponed to 2012 but that workers in sensitive locations would be covered sooner. "It is inconceivable that these workers would not already have full ID verification," said Davis. "Therefore the question has to be: Will this add to airport security or is it a way of getting the British public used to an ID card by stealth, despite an explicit promise from a former home secretary that this programme would not be rolled out in a compulsory fashion without a vote in the Commons?."
2008-02-23 - The Scotsman - 'Two-year delay' blow for ID card proposals
Author: Gerri Peev
Summary: Gordon Brown's plans for identity cards were dealt a blow last night after leaked documents revealed the government plans to delay a national roll out of the scheme for at least two years. ... David Davis, the shadow home secretary said: "I should think this scheme is in the intensive care ward. "There are clear faults in the whole government strategy as demonstrated from disc-gate to Birmingham-gate or whatever you want to call it." "There is a clear fracture in public confidence. When we started there were 80 per cent for it. Now I suspect 80 per cent oppose it." "It all amounts to giving the government an insoluble problem." "It is a political nightmare for them which why there have been serial delays."
2007-12-30 - The Sunday Times - Beware the state's ID card sharks
Author: David Davis MP
Summary: If Gordon Brown picks one failure from his first six months to learn from, it should be the loss of 25m people’s personal details. If he makes one resolution for 2008, it should be to scrap his reckless plan to introduce compulsory ID cards. "Discgate" was the result of ministerial incompetence, but also flawed policy. As chancellor, Brown relentlessly pursued his forlorn vision of a "joined-up identity management regime" across public services. As prime minister, he continues this vain search, like an obsessed alchemist, for a giant database that his closest advisers ominously refer to as a "single source of truth".
2007-09-05 - BBC News - 'No plan' for DNA samples for all
Summary: There are no plans to make it compulsory for everyone in the UK to be on the national DNA database, the government has said. The Human Genetics Commission said creating such a huge database would be too expensive and prone to mistakes being made. Civil rights group, Liberty, meanwhile, attacked the proposal as "chilling" and "ripe for abuse". ... Shadow home secretary David Davis called for a Parliamentary debate and described the system for adding people to the database as arbitrary and erratic.
2007-05-17 - Conservative Party - Latest DNA shambles undermines integrity of the system
Author: David Davis MP
Summary: Conservatives have reiterated calls for the National DNA Database to be placed on a statutory basis after it was revealed that more than 26,000 DNA samples were left off the system between 1995 and 2004. Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, declared: "This latest shambles further undermines the integrity of the DNA database and reinforces our calls for a Parliamentary debate about the system, and for it to be put onto a statutory basis." He warned: "What the Government puts on the database is totally arbitrary. Criminals escape detection for some extremely serious crimes, yet a third of those people on the database - over 1.1 million people - have never been convicted of a crime." Mr Davis added: "Only this Home Office would have a DNA database that targets the innocent but not the guilty." He was speaking after it was revealed that 183 crimes went undetected for up to 11 years because of Home Office blunders. The crimes included child abuse, robberies, drug offences and theft. The Home Office confirmed that in July 2006, 2,317,555 people on the DNA database had a conviction or caution recorded on the Police National Computer. This means that of the 3,457,000 individuals on the database at the time, there were 1,139,445 people with a database record who had not been convicted of a crime.
2007-05-10 - BBC - ID card costs rise above £5bn
Summary: The official cost of the controversial ID card scheme has risen to £5.31bn. The figures were released as Tony Blair announced his departure, leading to claims from the opposition that the government was "burying bad news". The Tories and Lib Dems also claimed that the Home Office broke the law by releasing the updated figures a month later than they should have. ... The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said the true rise was actually £640m - to £5.55bn over 10 years. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "The public will see through this transparent and pathetic attempt to bury bad news." "It is also no surprise the government has had to revise their cost estimate up by so much." "The public should brace themselves for more increases every time this estimate is updated."
2007-05-10 - Conservatives - Home Office seeks to bury soaring ID cards cost
Summary: David Davis has accused the Government of trying to bury bad news, after the Home Office announced a massive new escalation in the cost of its controversial ID cards scheme just as Tony Blair named the date of his departure from Downing Street. While the Prime Minister was unveiling his resignation timetable in a speech in his Sedgefield constituency, the Home Office said the official cost of the ID project had rocketed to over £5.30 billion - which the Conservatives calculated to be a rise of more than £600 million in less than a year. Commenting, the Shadow Home Secretary said: "It is no surprise that the Home Office has broken the law in delaying the publication of this report until a day like today. The public will see through this transparent and pathetic attempt to bury bad news." Mr Davis stated: "It is also no surprise the Government has had to revise their cost estimate up by so much in less than a year and undermines their criticism of the independent London School of Economics cost estimate of up to £20bn. The public should brace themselves for more increases every time this estimate is updated." He added: "These cards will do nothing to protect our security and in fact may make it worse. Let us not forget that the Government's estimate does not take into account costs to be met by other Departments and has yet still to receive Treasury approval."
2007-03-27 - Conservative Party - Blair's swansong crime review a is total admission of failure
Author: David Davis MP
Summary: ... In his so-called Crime and Justice review, Mr Blair appeared to recommend including "all suspected offenders who come into contact with the police" on the DNA database, while universal checks would be established throughout a child's development "to help service providers to identify those most at risk of offending". Commenting, Mr Davis said: "We would have great and grave concerns about any extension of the DNA database. This currently has no statutory basis and, sinisterly, the Government refuses to even have a debate about how it should operate."
2007-03-05 - The Mirror - Kids to be fingerprinted at 11
Author: Oonagh Blackman
Summary: Children as young as 11 may have their fingerprints taken when they apply for a passport. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne yesterday confirmed a plan - branded by critics as "sinister" - was being considered to record 11 to 15-year-olds' details for biometric passports and ID cards. Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "This borders on the sinister and it shows the Government is trying to end the presumption of innocence."
2007-03-04 - The Times - Children of 11 to be fingerprinted
Author: David Leppard
Summary: CHILDREN aged 11 to 16 are to have their fingerprints taken and stored on a secret database, internal Whitehall documents reveal. The leaked Home Office plans show that the mass fingerprinting will start in 2010, with a batch of 295,000 youngsters who apply for passports. ... David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "This borders on the sinister and it shows the government is trying to end the presumption of innocence. With the fingerprinting of all our children, this government is clearly determined to enforce major changes in the relationship between the citizen and the state in a way never seen before."
2007-03-04 - BBC - Child fingerprint plan considered
Summary: Proposals to fingerprint children aged 11 to 15 as part of new passport and ID card plans are being considered. Immigration minister Liam Byrne told ITV1's The Sunday Edition the proposals were being "looked at". ... Shadow home secretary David Davis said the proposal "borders on the sinister" and added it showed the government was trying to end the presumption of innocence. "This government is clearly determined to enforce major changes in the relationship between the citizen and the state in a way never seen before."
2007-02-19 - Kable - Tories attack fingerprint plans
Summary: Shadow home secretary David Davis has criticised the government's plan to make people travel to interview centres to provide a biometric for the national identity card
2007-02-08 - The Register - Tech firms tangle with Tories on ID cards
Author: Mark Ballard
Summary: The IT industry has found itself in a handbagging spat with shadow home secretary David Davis over the Conservative party's plans to ditch ID cards should they win power from Labour. ... "Your claim to be neither for or against the policy of introducing ID cards in the UK, given the clear commercial interest of a number of your members, is simply disingenuous… incredible and insulting."
2006-02-07 - Conservative Party - New passport shambles
Summary: ... The Shadow Home Secretary said there was a real possibility of travellers being stranded after it emerged that the new electronic passports being introduced by the Government could need to be replaced after only two years rather than ten. ... Commenting, Mr Davis said: "This shows yet another scheme to be a total shambles. Holiday-makers and business travellers will face much uncertainty and the real possibility of being stranded. It is almost certain they will face an increased financial burden." He asked: "Just how many more times must the consequences of the Government's incompetence hit the taxpayer?" And pointing out that it is the Home Office which is responsible for promoting the Government's costly and controversial compulsory ID cards scheme, Mr Davis declared: "This is another reason why ID cards are a bad idea."
2006-02-07 - BBC - Warning over ePassport microchips
Summary: Microchips in Britain's new ePassports only have two-year warranties, a National Audit Office report says. They are so new, no-one knows how long they will last, or how the scanners reading them will work, the NAO said. ... For the Conservatives, shadow home secretary David Davis highlighted the report's suggestion that some ports and airports will not have epassport scanners in place in time. Taken together with the prospect of chips not lasting as long as the 10 year passport "holiday makers and business travellers will face much uncertainty and the real possibility of being stranded". He said the report's findings was "another reason why ID cards are a bad idea".
2007-02-05 - Conservative Party - Conservatives formally pledge to cancel ID card scheme
Summary: David Davis has written to Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, giving formal notice that an incoming Conservative administration would scrap the Government's costly ID card project. And the Shadow Home Secretary has warned of the financial dangers of the Government signing contracts to set up the ID card scheme when it faces cancellation if the Conservatives are returned to power at the next election.
2007-01-18 - The Register - Government launches data free-for-all
Author: Lucy Sherriff
Summary: The government has ditched yet more of the protections on personal data contained in the Data Protection Act with new legislation that will allow the sharing of data between public and private sectors. ... The Tories have been critical of the scheme. Shadow home secretary David Davis told The Times: "If up to 60 per cent of tearaways breach ASBOs, what makes John Reid think an organised criminal will pay attention to one?"
2006-10-09 - Conservatives - Government woefully underestimates cost of ID cards
Summary: David Davis has called for spending to be switched to a new prison building programme after it emerged that the Government's controversial ID card scheme will cost £5.4 billion to set up and run over the next decade. Commenting after the Home Office set out the official expected cost for the first time, the Shadow Home Secretary said: "The Home Office has an absolutely appalling record for delivering IT based projects on time and on budget. Independent experts have predicted this plastic poll tax will in fact cost nearly £20bn. Some of this money could be spent on a much needed prison building program."
2006-07-18 - The Register - Curse of Blunkett strikes Home Office minister
Author: John Lettice
Summary: ... Tory Home Affairs spokesman David Davis asked Ryan, "can the Minister guarantee that the ID card will be 100 per cent secure against fraud - yes or no?" ... Ryan responded: "The right hon. Gentleman might next blame burglary on burglar alarms. It is a ridiculous contention. Can anybody say that anything is 100 per cent. secure? Opposition Members would have every reason to be sceptical if any Minister made such a claim." ... Well, step forward David Blunkett, Home Secretary as was on 11th November 2003. Speaking on the Today programme, Blunkett said that biometric identifiers on ID "will make identity theft and multiple identity impossible, not nearly impossible, impossible."
2006-07-11 - The Register - Home Office stands by ID cards
Summary: The Home Office has denied claims that the national identity card programme is on the skids. This followed reports in The Sunday Times that the plan could be scaled down as part of a face saving exercise after a realisation that aspects of the programme are not feasible. ... Shadow home secretary David Davis is calling for the whole scheme to be scrapped. "These are all the classic signs of a Whitehall IT project about to go disastrously wrong," he said. "These civil servants can see plainly what the government refuses to accept." Davis claimed the prime minister's "obsession" with the project will weaken the country's security and cost at least £20bn.
2006-03-30 - The Register - Tories promise to ditch ID Cards
Author: Mark Ballard
Summary: The Conservatives will scrap ID Cards if they win the 2010 election, shadow home secretary David Davis promised last night. ... "While I recommend that my party support the amendment, let there be no doubt that my first act when I take over as home secretary after the next election will be to do away with the Bill," declared shadow home secretary David Davis in the Commons last night, after telling Conservative MPs to vote in support of the compromise amendment. "It is still an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the individual," he said. "It is still ineffective, costly and potentially dangerous. It is still a massive reversal of the relationship between the citizen and the state."
2006-02-14 - The Register - ID Cards to be compulsory in Britain
Author: Mark Ballard
Summary: The British Parliament has kicked out Lords amendments to the ID Card Bill that would have made their use voluntary. ... The Lords had attempted to prevent the provision of cards being tied to the provision of passports and residency permits, a method opponents branded "creeping compulsion" and that shadow Home Secretary David Davis said would have the country wake up in 10 years time to discover it had "sleep walked into the surveillance state".
2006-01-16 - The Register - Tory and Lib peers aim to ice ID cards until Blair's overthrow
Author: John Lettice
Summary: Tory and Liberal opposition peers will unite in the House of Lords today in an attempt to have the UK identity card scheme shelved pending an investigation of costs and benefits. Their amendment is intended, according to Tory Home Affairs spokesman David Davis to force the Government to produce proper costings of the scheme, but if passed it will be likely to kick ID cards into touch for the remainder of Tony Blair's term in Downing Street.
2005-12-02 - The Register - Son of the £300 ID card - the £290 ID scheme propaganda DVD
Author: John Lettice
Summary: Should the entertainment industry panic about the Home Office's shock entry into DVD production? Probably not, if figures revealed this week by Home Secretary Charles Clarke are anything to go on. In answer to a parliamentary question from Tory Home Affairs spokesman David Davis, Clarke said that so far a whopping 250 copies of his ID card propaganda film Passport to Perdition* had been produced at a total cost of £71,892.96, inc VAT.
2005-05-25 - The Register - ID cards: Part II
Author: John Oates
Summary: Home Secretary Charles Clarke is expected to reintroduce the government’s proposal for compulsory ID cards later today. ... For the Tories, shadow Home Secretary David Davis said he was not convinced by the claims. Davis said: "The database at the centre is what brings about a change in the relationship between the individual and the state. The Government have no answer as to how they will protect that database.", according to egovmonitor.com
2004-12-21 - The Register - Labour's Zombie Army clinches ID card vote for Clarke
Author: John Lettice
Summary: Britain's compulsory ID card scheme won a large majority in a Commons vote last night, with 385 MPs voting for and 93 against. ... shadow home affairs spokesman David Davis has demanded changes in the Bill, and yesterday said that "if it hasn’t changed at all, I think we will make a judgment which is pretty sceptical of it." That however places the Tories in a difficult position. Davis himself, and a large section of the party, is against ID cards
2004-12-14 - The Register - Tories come out in support of UK ID card scheme
Author: John Lettice
Summary: Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin, Tim Yeo at Transport and Home Affairs spokesman David Davis have all expressed reservations, and Davis reportedly fought hard against a commitment to support the scheme. Davis was expressing scepticism as early as the Mistaken Identity public meeting in May (speeches available here), where he also displayed a commendable grasp of the database lash-up the Government currently presides over. If he plays his cards right, a combination of honourable, loyal support for his leader and realistic scepticism about the viability of the scheme is unlikely to do his leadership chances any harm.
2004-07-30 - The Register - ID cards: a bad idea, but we'll do it anyway
Author: Lucy Sherriff
Summary: The National ID Card programme will be too expensive, has been shrouded in secrecy and lacks sufficient safeguards against abuse. So says a report from the Home Affairs Select Committee, which describes the Home Secretary David Blunkett's secretive approach as "regrettable". ... Shadow Home Secretary David Davis told The Independent: "It is extremely disturbing that decisions on ID cards are being taken in secret. ID cards raise complex questions of civil liberties so of all of the policy decisions taken in secret, ID cards shouldn't be one of them."
2000-01-05 - The Register - Gov't slammed for serial IT blunders
Author: Tim Richardson
Summary: Basic errors repeated time and time again are to blame for the British Government's inability to deliver major IT projects on time and within budget. That's the conclusion of a damning report published today by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which claims taxpayers are footing the bill for the Government's blundering IT mistakes. ... "It is imperative that the government acts quickly to improve its record on the management of IT projects," said David Davis, Tory chair of PAC. "Such projects are often delivered late or not at all; they come in over budget or fail to work as intended at the outset," he said.

References