Identity cards were re-introduced in Britain in the Identity Cards Act 2006 , enacted during Tony Blair 's Labour government , as part of a state-approved counterterrorism initiative ( part of the War on Terror ) by – then-Prime Minister – Tony Blair , in response to the September 11 attacks and 7/7 bombings . NO2ID grew rapidly during the initial Parliamentary battle against the UK ID cards legislation which , after the first Bill fell having failed to be passed before the general election in May 2005 , was re-introduced and passed as the Identity Cards Act 2006 in March 2006 . At that point , NO2ID had around 30,000 registered supporters and a network of around 100 other supportive organisations . In May 2006 , NO2ID launched the " Renew for Freedom " campaign , urging passport holders to renew their passports in the summer of 2006 to delay being entered on the National Identity Register . This followed the comment made by Charles Clarke in the House of Commons that " anyone who feels strongly enough about the linkage between passports and the ID scheme not to want to be issued with an ID card in the initial phase will be free to surrender their existing passport and apply for a new passport before the designation order takes effect "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Opinion polls on the British national identity card