Now it has been revealed that the measure will be tagged to the Police and Crime Bill as “secondary legislation”, which means there will be no debate, or vote, on the Commons floor.
Instead, it will be decided by a Labour-dominated committee, handpicked by Downing Street. No such vote has been lost by a government since 1969.
Calling for a full Commons debate, the Home Office's ethics group on the DNA database said: "The use of secondary legislation to effect a 'quick fix' is very regrettable and could result in unintended consequences."
And yesterday, the man who discovered DNA fingerprinting 25 years ago added his voice to the demands hat the government should think again about retaining samples.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys said: "Innocent people do not belong on that database.
“Branding them as future criminals is not a proportionate response in the fight against crime."
