Labour's Change of Heart on ID Cards Welcomed
August 6, 2005 12:45 PM
Signs that the government might change its mind on compulsory ID cards have been welcomed by local Liberal Democrats.
On Thursday newspapers reported that Labour's Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty had been back pedalling on the government's drive to enforce ID cards. Mr McNulty was reported as saying "in the past the government in its enthusiasm oversold the advantage of ID cards" and "in the past we were offering the system as a panacea to all ills when … it is not going to solve any one of them".
Richard Allanach, the Liberal Democrats' candidate in the recent general election said: "I welcome the new sense of realism that Labour are now showing in this debate. We now know the government's scheme would be very expensive. The London School of Economics believe it would cost between £10 billion and £19 billion. This is money that could far better be spent on strengthening our local police forces."
He added: "It would appear that most of the suspects in the recent horrific London bombings had British passports. Introducing ID cards is unlikely to have done anything to prevent this appalling terrorism. It would be better if the government dropped this scheme entirely and focused its efforts on bringing these criminals to justice. For example they could legislate to allow telephone conversations to be used as evidence in court cases."
"Residents of Rugby and Kenilworth face a grim prospect if the government does not change its mind." Mr Allanach continued "At some point in the future they will doubtless have to travel to Coventry to face a long queue at some government office where eventually they will get to meet an official who will ask them a lot of questions about their private life, fingerprint them and take their photograph. The people who can prove who they are will then part with up to £300 a head and get an identity card. Anyone who cannot prove who they are will face an even worse future."
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