Mike Barker calls for scrapping of ID card scheme

9.58.00pm GMT Fri 11th Jan 2008

Today, Mike Barker, Parliamentary Spokesman for Darlington Liberal Democrats had a letter calling on the Government to scrap the ID card scheme published in the Echo.

"Following the recent loss of CDs containing personal information on child benefit claimants, Liberal Democrat research has revealed that 37 million items of personal data went missing last year.

"Most of it was lost by Government, although councils, NHS trusts, banks and insurance companies were also responsible. This shocking record means we need a total rethink on data protection laws and an immediate end to plans for identity cards.

"Surely no one can any longer have faith in the Government's ability to handle personal data. There is simply no way that any democratic government can expect an unwilling public to accept having their personal data stored in what would be the world's largest database when they aren't confident that database will be safe.

"The Lib Dems' new leader, Nick Clegg, has already pledged to disobey any new law and refuse to sign up for an identity card - and so do I.

"Identity cards achieve nothing except to extend the Government's control over us as individuals."

The expensive identity cards scheme is based on the government storing large amounts of information about each one of us on a central database. But in 2007 the Government stumbled from one data loss crisis to another. The worst example came in November when the Government lost the personal details of all 25 million families with children. That has put the privacy of every family in Darlington at risk.

The dangers of putting so much information about every citizen in the UK into one central database are clear to everyone except, it seems, the Government. Ministers are in denial when they argue that the information will be safe and people's privacy will not be undermined.

New Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg is leading the battle to end the ID cards scheme. Liberal Democrats in Darlington are right behind him. The plan to make everyone carry a piece of plastic should be buried before it ends up as another expensive government fiasco.

The scheme will be a bureaucratic nightmare. 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 it has earmarked for this scheme would be far better spent on more police and intelligence officers. That is what the Liberal Democrats would do.

Related Link:

Daily Telegraph story on Government data loss.