Are ID cards legal under human rights legislation?

The government has refused to release legal advice given to cabinet ministers on whether the bill to introduce ID cards contravenes human rights legislation, it emerged on Monday.

Details of a decision to keep the advice secret were revealed ahead of an expected backbench rebellion in the House of Commons vote on the ID card scheme.

The advice covers in-depth legal arguments about the possibility of denying people access to public services and issues surrounding powers of the security services, police and authorities being able to access medical data, financial information and other personal details.

Home secretary Charles Clarke is likely to face questions from all political parties on the legal decision, along with challenges to the ID card scheme overall. Up to 30 Labour MPs could oppose the scheme during the Commons debate on Monday.

Conservative leader Michael Howard also faces a possible rebellion after his shadow cabinet moved to back the government on the plans. The Liberal Democrats oppose the scheme.

The refusal to release the ID card legal advice emerged after Dr Chris Pounder, editor of law firm Pinsent Masons' Data Protection & Privacy Practice, made an open government request for the document. He told Government Computing News that he was concerned the ID card database could hold up to 50 items of personal data accessible to a range of public authorities.

He is particularly worried that authorities will be able to access an "audit trail" which will detail records of access to specific public services, such as visits to an outpatients clinic, without obtaining a warrant.

Meanwhile, Clarke has accused critics of the ID cards scheme of "liberal woolly thinking". In a Times article he maintained that the database would not hold information on medical records, religion or political beliefs.