House of Lords presses for electronic national identity card

A House of Lords committee has urged the Government to consider creating an electronic national identity card to combat fraud.

The all-party European Union select committee said that if e-government is to become a reality some secure form of identification will be required as current forms are inadequate.

Its report, published on Tuesday, said, "There is a serious risk that problems such as benefit fraud and tax evasion could be magnified with the advent of e-government, which would largely remove face-to-face contact. There are also new opportunities for computer hackers to distort these activities."

The report also backed other measures to improve Internet access and establish better trust in IT, including: