The following article is a summary of `Identity Cards: The Next Steps`, published in the UK in November 2003 by the Stationary Office1. Last November, David Blunkett, the British Home Secretary, announced that the Government had decided to begin the process of building the base for a national compulsory identity cards scheme across the UK. Des Browne MP is Minister of State for Citizenship and Immigration. He was formerly Minister of State for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions, and also held the position of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at The Northern Ireland Office. Mr Browne has been MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 1997 and was previously Parliamentary Private Secretary to the late Donald Dewar MP (1998-1999) and more recently to Adam Ingram MP.