GOVERNMENT'S STEALTH APPROACH TO ID CARDS IS CHILLING - ÖPIK

1.44.36pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 6th Mar 2008

News of the Government's revised plans to introduce ID cards will be announced later today. Ahead of the announcement, Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire, commented:

"The Government's continued love affair with the notion of a National Identity Register distracts from the fact that more money needs to be spent on keeping police patrolling the street.

"Terrorists involved in both the July 2005 and Glasgow bombings would not have been stopped by having their details on a National Identity Register.

"Funds need to be better spent on a strategy that tackles terrorism head on, encouraging better social cohesion of people groups into society, and investing heavily in the intelligence services.

"The plan to target students in 2011 as the first ID card guinea pigs, some of the more vulnerable groups in society, shows the desperation with which this Government continues to hold on to the scheme."