Greens call on MP to boycott ID cards (From Gazette Series)

Greens call on MP to boycott ID cards

DAVID DREW has told the Gazette that he could only support the introduction of ID cards if it is proved to work and is affordable. The Stroud MP clarified his position after calls from the Green Party in Gloucestershire for him to rethink his position of support on the issue. However, Mr Drew insisted that he still needed to be persuaded that it was realistic to introduce the legislation.

"I support the principal of ID cards," he said, "But I would have to be convinced that it will work in practice before I can vote for it and that it is affordable."

The Greens have given their backing to a national campaign calling for the scrapping of the ID card legislation.

They claim it would have no effect on a wide range of crime problems. Martin Whiteside, the party's candidate for Stroud at the recent General Election, said: "The cards won't do anything to prevent crime, benefit fraud or international terrorism and they will leave citizens open to unprecedented levels of abuse from private business and future Governments through the creation of a national database." Home secretary Charles Clarke unveiled the latest Identity Cards bill last week.

Mr Drew said he believed that ID cards would help prevent crime, particularly benefit fraud, but the Government would have to prove to him that everything worked first.

He added: "The first consideration must be to make sure we get a foolproof system that is going to work.

"Until someone can prove to me that the biometric tests are reliable I cannot justify spending the money."

The introduction of ID cards could cost in the region of £5 billion and opponents claim the costs could spiral.

Hugo Charlton, home affairs spokesman for the Greens, said: "Historically, the Government's disastrous database-related schemes have either broken down entirely, causing widespread chaos, or massively overrun the initial estimates.

"The £30 billion NHS computerisation cost five times the estimate and the bill for this ambitious scheme will be astronomical."

The Green Party has urged people of all political persuasions to back the anti-ID card campaign.