>>The only light on the horizon is that come next May Labour will be out of power. With them will go ID cards and the National ID Register<<
ID cards are long term Home Office project. If the Government falls the Home Office will wait until a new home Secretary is appointed and then start pushing the project again after a discreet interval. Remember, the Card itself is less of a problem. The real issue is having one registration number linked to all government databases. They passport could, incrementally, become a de facto ID Card if information sharing legislation is passed to join up all the databases.