ID cards won't work

ID cards won't prevent terrorist attacks: The former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has admitted that ID cards would not have prevented the 7 July 2005 bombings in London, saying: 'I doubt if it would have made a difference'. In Spain, ID cards are compulsory, but they did not stop the Madrid bombings in March 2004.

ID cards won't prevent illegal immigration: Foreign visitors will not have to have an ID card, unless they plan to stay in the UK for more than three months.

ID cards won't prevent identity fraud: Microsoft's National Technology Officer, Jerry Fishenden, has said that introducing ID cards could make identity fraud worse, warning that it could 'trigger massive identity fraud on a scale on a scale beyond anything we have seen before'.

ID cards won't prevent human trafficking: ID cards are no substitute for a border police force and proper checks on people entering and leaving the country. In 1998, the Government abolished border controls, but its replacement, a computer-based e-borders scheme will not be fully installed until 2014.



ID cards are a waste of money

ID cards will cost each person £93: According to Government estimates, you will pay at least £93 for a combined ID card and passport package but, given this Government's appalling record of implementing IT projects, this figure is likely to go up. Also, if your ID card is stolen, or your lose it, you'll have to pay £30 for a replacement. If you change your name when you get married, you'll have to pay for a new ID card. If one of your relatives dies and you forget to return their ID card, you could be fined £1,000.

ID cards scheme will cost up to £20 billion in total: While the Government claims that the scheme will cost £5.4 billion of taxpayers' money, the independent London School of Economics estimates it will cost up to £20 billion.

ID cards could be another Government disaster: This Government has a terrible record of large scale IT disasters. For example, the botched introduction of the new Child Support Agency computer system led to a backlog of 250,000 cases; clerical errors and problems with the tax credits computer system led to millions of incorrect payments; and an audit of the Police National Computer by the Met Police found that 86 per cent of records were inaccurate.



ID cards are an invasion of privacy

ID cards give the State too much personal data in one place: Your ID card could hold almost 30 separate pieces of personal information on you, including your name, date and place of birth, gender, previous addresses, photograph, signature, fingerprints and other biometric details. All this information will also be stored on a massive Home Office ID cards database, called the National Identity Register.

ID cards mean intrusive interviews and fingerprinting: From 2009, unless you opt out, when you renew your passport you will have to visit a Government 'interview centre' and give the Government your fingerprints in order to get an ID card.



More prison places, more prisoner drug rehab & a border police are good ideas

A Conservative Government will scrap the ID cards scheme. We will use some of the savings to build more prison places, provide more drug rehab in prisons and create a new border police force.

More prison places: Our prisons are desperately overcrowded, meaning serious criminals are escaping prison sentences and prisoners are not being rehabilitated. Instead of wasting billions of pounds on ID cards, shouldn't we use some of the savings to build more prison spaces?

More drug rehab in prisons: Drug addiction is a major cause of crime in society, but there isn't enough effective drug rehab in prisons to help get criminals off drugs for good. Instead of wasting billions of pounds on ID cards, shouldn't we use some of the savings to provide more drug rehabilitation to help prisoners kick the habit?

A Border Police Force: At present, many different agencies are responsible for aspects of policing our borders. Instead of wasting billions of pounds on ID cards, shouldn't we use some of the savings to create a new UK border police force to prevent and detect illegal immigration and to stop terrorists and suspected terrorists from entering the country?