Date: May 2007
Home Office minister Liam Byrne told ITV1 television’s The Sunday Edition that the Identity and Passport Service wanted to fingerprint all children over the age of 11 and keep their particulars on a database.
The reason, he said, is because it is currently possible get a 10 year passport without biometrics while a child and still be carrying it validly at age 17, the age at which a biometric passport would be issued to someone who applied afresh for their travel permit.
He did not say that it would be necessary to fingerprint children as young as eight, perhaps because an anti-biometric campaign has been building quite steadily against the idea of fingerprinting children below the age of 10.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/fingerprint_kids/
Liam Byrne, pictured inset, is the Labour MP for Birmingham, Hodge Hill. In the past he voted for 
ID cards, for the Iraq war, and against any investigation into the Iraq war.