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INCOMPETENT NEW LABOUR REGIME PROVED TO BE UNFIT TO GOVERN BRITAIN AFTER THE RECORDS OF 25 MILLION UK CITIZENS ARE 'LOST'

Gordon Brown has said he "profoundly regretted" the loss of the personal data of every family in Britain and 'apologised' to the millions affected. He should also apologise for inflicting the New Labour regime on the British people.

On top of this latest New Labour fiasco, banks are facing overload from millions of customers worried about identity theft after the biggest loss of personal data in history. Staff are expecting to be deluged by panicking account holders after a junior civil servant lost two discs containing information on s staggering 25 million people. The unsurpising blunder by HM Revenue and Customs, which affects every family in the country claiming child benefit, has triggered a huge fraud alert and proves that the State cannot be trusted to create and 'protect' a National Identity Register.

The Chancellor Alistair Darling "apologised unreservedly" for what he described as a "very very bad situation indeed" but refused to resign for the incompetence for which he is responsible. Accounts thought to be particularly at risk are those that use children's names or dates of births as passwords. It is feared that the disaster will cost the banking system tens of millions of pounds.

During Prime Minster's Questions Tory leader David Cameron said the data loss was the latest in a series which showed there was "systemic failure" in HMRC. Mr Cameron said voters would find it "truly bizarre" that the incident had not made the Prime Minister "stop and think" about the dangers of creating a national ID card database.


Alistair Darling pictured at the opening of the Child Benefits Agency HQ

And High street banks such as Barclays and Halifax have already briefed staff on how to detect attempts to steal money from accounts. A spokesman for Barclays said: "We've briefed staff to be extra vigilant on identification and verification with new account openings and changes of accounts. The extra checks are down to staff judgment, but we're asking customers to be patient."

The records include parents' and children's names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit and National Insurance numbers and in some cases, bank or building society details. Although there is no suggestion yet that the information has fallen into the wrong hands, customers are being told to monitor their accounts closely. High street bank Abbey said: "We saw a spike in calls last night from customers wanting to check about passwords and things like that. This morning it seems to have calmed down. There is a 7 per cent increase in calls."

But the Chancellor Alistair Darling showed no sign of bowing to pressure and remained adamant that he will not resign over the blunder. He admitted, however, that his confidence had been shaken by the loss of the discs. "Of course it shakes confidence," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He insisted he would not be deflected by what had happened or by his problems with Northern Rock. "I am not going to start running away from things when things get difficult," he said. "It is difficult, it is unwelcome in every respect and I am determined to see it through."

There has been widespread criticism of the Government's decision not to offer free credit checks for all customers. They will have to pay a £2 fee to check whether there have been applications for credit cards or loans in their name. Any losses through fraud will be made good by banks under the terms of the Banking Code.

The two discs were sent to the National Audit office in London by unrecorded delivery last month and were lost in the post. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who has warned of a total surveillance society sweeping across Britain, said it was "almost certain" that HM Revenue and Customs had broken the Data Protection Act. He added: "It is a shocking case. I am at a loss to find out what happened in this situation. It is not just about the law. It is about retaining the trust and confidence of the population where so much information is entrusted to Government. This goes beyond legal compliance. Any system for collecting information must be proof against criminals, it must be proof against idiots, it must be proof against those who don't follow the ordinary rules of procedure. This has got to be taken a great deal more seriously than clearly has been the case in this situation."

Computer security expert Graham Cluley of Sophos today said the information on the unencrypted discs was more than enough to commit identity theft. "This data could get around the world and be used to open an online account in a matter of minutes." This proves once again that the State cannot be trusted to create and operate 'safely' a colossal National Identity Register on 60 million UK residents!

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