06/02/07 - Cllr Justin Tomlinson Backs Scrapping ID Cards

Today the Conservative Party has pledged that, if they are elected into government they will scrap the controversial ID card scheme.

David Davis has written to Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, giving formal notice that an incoming Conservative administration would scrap the Government's costly ID card project.

Tell the Government to scrap their ID card scheme by signing the petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDcards/

ID cards won't prevent terrorist attacks
ID cards won't prevent illegal immigration
ID cards won't prevent identity fraud
ID cards won't prevent human trafficking
ID cards are a waste of money
ID cards will cost each person £93
ID cards scheme will cost up to £20 billion in total
ID cards could be another Government disaster
ID cards are an invasion of privacy
ID cards give the State too much personal data in one place
ID cards mean intrusive interviews and fingerprinting

Cllr Justin Tomlinson: 

“We don’t need ID Cards, we need more prisons. This country is a ‘Big Brother’ state already, the ID Card scheme is just another example of the wasteful mismanagement of taxpayers money. We all know that the Government underestimate how much things cost so, while the they claim 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. Think how many better ways we could spend £20 billion pounds.” 

What do the Conservatives want to see?

More prison places, more prisoner drug rehab & a border police aregood 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 places 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 on drug rehabilitation in 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?

More information can be found on the Conservative Party Website: http://www.conservatives.com