John Redwood opposed Identity Cards , the reason will surprise you.

Welsh political news is rather thin on the ground over this festive period, but BBC Wales provides us with  the news that Ex-Welsh Secretary John Redwood opposed plans for compulsory national identity cards in the 1990s, as newly released documents reveal.

According to the Beeb.

In government papers from 1994, Mr Redwood said "any hint" of mandatory ID cards would cause "difficulties with nationalist and devolutionist groups".
He said the benefits were "not proven - even to the police and the courts", who were most likely to be "keen" on them.
The prime minister at the time, John Major, later shelved the proposals.
Conservative Mr Major had previously said the cards were key in the fight against crime

Before the Welsh assembly was created in 1999, powers over matters such as the NHS, education, housing and agriculture were generally the responsibility of the secretary of state for Wales - giving the holder of that office far more power than today.
In the newly released cabinet papers, Mr Redwood, who served as Welsh secretary from 1993 to 1995, wrote to Home Secretary Michael Howard saying he had "reservations" about compulsory cards.
He said: "At a time when constitutional questions affecting Wales and Scotland are again coming to the fore, discussion of a compulsory ID scheme would add unnecessarily to the existing debate about the future of the union."

Image copyright

In an earlier letter to the prime minister he said: "A compulsory scheme would be unacceptable to very many people, and I can see little merit in a voluntary scheme which would only attract partial compliance. The costs of either scheme are extremely high."
Mr Major had admitted there were "great practical difficulties" in introducing compulsory identity cards, but maintained they could be useful in the fight against crime.
However, in 1996, Mr Major's government shelved the plans after a consultation revealed the public were split three ways on the issue.
The issue of compulsory ID cards later re-surfaced under Tony Blair when he was prime minister.
His plans were approved, but later overturned by David Cameron when he became prime minister in 2010.

The Blair plans actually saw a unusual move from the Tory Shadow Home Secretary  David Davis  On 12 June 2008, Davis unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary; this was in order to force a by-election in his seat for which he intended to seek re-election by mounting a specific campaign designed to provoke wider public debate about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. Following his formal resignation as an MP he became the Conservative candidate in the resulting by-election, which he won a month later. In 2012,

So weirdly opposition to the idea of compulsory identity cards , seems to have come from the right libertarian wing  of the Tories, and I suspect in Redwood's case it was less due to "difficulties with nationalist and devolutionist groups" than his natural instinct of a "Freeborn Englishman. or some sort of rot.

I suspect the idea will reemerge however for those of us who do not drive or hold a driving licence it is increasingly difficult to prove your identity, and the  GOV.UK Verify  an identity assurance system developed by the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) actually makes things more difficult

 The system is intended to provide a single trusted login across all UK government digital services, verifying the user’s identity in 15 minutes. It allows users to choose one of several companies to verify their identity to a standard level of assurance before accessing 18 central government online services.

But unless things have changed If You do not possess a Passport  or Driving Licence then you can only Register via one company  Experian  and you must also have a mobile  phone so they can text you a password. Many of those without these two will be unemployed and will have to use this new service and will probably face delays .

Apparently  after e platform was originally due to launch in 2012, but did not do so until 2016.The success rate in verifying individuals is 47% as of October 2018.so its not actually working fully .

We could solve the whole problem by using the DVLA to issue cards (maybe a different coloured one) to people who do not drive and have no intention to do so.

It would be handy if this non-compulsory card was made available to all citizens. Though it will mot solve the problem of we "Nationalists" in Wales,  Scotland  and Northern Ireland  who don't like carrying the Butchers Apron on a Card which signify our identity.