03/12/09 - Pilot ID Card Scheme, A Labour White Elephant

Local Conservatives have reacted angrily to the pilot ID card scheme application process which has opened for Greater Manchester residents.

Speaking at a Trafford Council meeting on Wednesday, deputy leader Cllr Alex Williams, said: "The voluntary pilot scheme will be yet another Labour white elephant - but unfortunately one that will cost billions of pounds more than even the Millennium Dome. "Since applications opened a fortnight ago, 1,386 people out of an eligible population of 2.6 million in the area have requested an application form - a mere 0.05 per cent.

"However, despite this lack of interest, the Labour Government is still pushing ahead with the scheme, spending £230,000 every day to bring it about - more than £5 billion in total.

"The Government's claim that ID cards are a handy alternative to a passport is simply rubbish. ID cards would only be valid for travel within the EU while most people already have a passport.

"The reality is that you will pay another £30 and have to deal with a lifetime of fees, penalties and compliance with the threat that your and other's details could be lost at any time - remember the loss of 25 million child benefit records in 2008."

He added: "This is a costly, wasteful, intrusive scheme that has practically no popular support. The next Conservative Government has rightly pledged to scrap it. In the meantime, I urge the Labour Government to stop using the residents of Trafford and Greater Manchester as guinea pigs, call a halt to this pilot immediately and invest the money saved in local public services instead.''