ID cards "a colossal waste of money", and the data won't be safe (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

ID cards "a colossal waste of money", and the data won't be safe

November 22, 2008 11:07 AM

No 2 ID Cards The Scottish Parliament voted this week against the UK Government's plans to introduce ID cards, joining Oxfordshire County Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, Oxford City Council and many other democratic bodies which have now agreed not to co-operate with the Labour government's deluded plans.

Members of the Scottish Parliament backed a Scottish Government motion stating the scheme would not increase security or deter crime, while raising concerns about civil liberties. The first identity cards will be issued to foreign nationals from next week, while young people will be asked to sign up from 2010 before their expected general introduction from 2012.

Alan Armitage, parliamentary spokesman for the Lib Dems in Wantage and Didcot, proposed the motion in the county council which was overwhelmingly supported by councillors of all parties except Labour. Said Mr Armitage:"The likely cost to taxpayers of the ID scheme has been estimated by respected academics at £12-18 billion over ten years. This money could be used in so many better ways. There is absolutely no evidence from anywhere in the world that ID cards deter terrorists or illegal immigrants. In fact, this will just create new opportunities for criminals involved in producing fake documents, with all the attendant costs to the police in trying to find and stop them."

Scottish Ministers told parliament that ID cards were a "colossal waste of money" and that the UK Government could not be trusted to keep the data safe. "This scheme won't achieve its primary stated objective of making people safer nor reducing the terrorist threat. We believe that it poses an unacceptable threat to citizens' privacy and civil liberties."

Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown said he was uneasy at the decision to issue cards to foreign nationals. "It goes under the rather unpleasant title of identity cards for foreign nationals, with all the nasty implied innuendo of the recipients being aliens, other people from far-off countries that we know nothing about and are probably terrorists anyway."

Conservative Bill Aitken said governments had every justification to take action on improving security, but added: "Where there have been terrible terrorist outrages in the past, in countries where identity cards are compulsory, they have made not one whit of difference."

But as in Oxfordshire, Labour declined to back the motion.