Westminster Liberal Democrats call for end to ID cards

11.57.00am GMT Sat 12th Jan 2008

Liberal Democrats oppose ID cards - they are expensive, bureaucratic and ineffective

Westminster Liberal Democrats are supporting calls from across Britain for the Government to abandon its "expensive, bureaucratic and ineffective" plans to make people carry ID cards.

Local campaigner Neville Farmer spoke out on the issue after LibDem leader Nick Clegg MP published figures showing that 37,000,000 pieces of personal information on UK citizens were lost last year. Most was lost by the Government.

The law bringing in ID cards has already been passed by Labour and soon most citizens will have to pay for their ID card.

Commenting, Neville said, "The expensive ID card scheme is based on the Government collecting and storing on a centralised database vast amounts of information about each and every one of us. Last year however the Government stumbled from one data loss crisis to another. The worst example came two months ago when the Government lost the personal details of 25,000,000 families, including bank account numbers. That has put at risk the privacy of every single Westminster family with children.

"Surely the Government can see the dangers and deep flaws in putting so much information about every person in the UK onto a centralised database. Ministers are in ostrich-like denial if they argue that this information will be safe and everyone's privacy will not be undermined.

"I am very pleased that Nick Clegg, the new Liberal Democrat leader, is leading the battle to end this wrong-headed ID card scheme. Liberal Democrats in Westminster are right behind him. The plan to make everyone carry a little piece of plastic should be buried before it ends up as another expensive government fiasco, or worse.

"The scheme will be a dream for bureaucrats, but a nightmare for the rest of us. It won't prevent illegal working. It won't help stop crime or terrorism. If the Government really wants to make an impact on crime, terrorism and illegal immigration, the money set to be wasted on this scheme should instead be spent on more police and intelligence officers. That is what the Liberal Democrats would do."