Harriett Baldwin, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, West Worcestershire, today added her support to a new campaign against Labour's plans for ID Cards. Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, has pledged to scrap the controversial £20 billion scheme.
Under the Labour Government's plans for ID cards:
- Every citizen will fingerprinted and interviewed, and forced to travel at their own expense to a regional centre. The nearest regional centre for people in Worcestershire will be Birmingham, Oxford or Swindon.
- Each person will have to pay at least £93 for a combined ID card and passport package.
- If the card is lost or stolen, the replacement fee will be at least £30. If you get married and change your name, you will have to pay for a new card as well.
Harriett Baldwin remarked,
"ID cards are a bad idea. They will do nothing to improve the safety of people in Worcestershire. They are not the answer to the threat of terrorism, to benefit fraud, illegal immigration, human trafficking or to identity theft. They are a waste of money, and a Conservative Government will abolish them. If one of the regional centres was going to be in the county, then at least we could look forward to some job creation and shorter travel times, but as with Labour's regionalisation agenda, they have concentrated on big regional hubs like Birmingham.
"The Labour Government's plans are to make ID Cards compulsory for everyone, and force people to pay to be fingerprinted by the State. Instead of these intrusive, expensive and ineffective ID Cards, the money should be spent on more worthwhile projects to cut crime - such as a dedicated UK Border Police, more prison spaces and increasing the number of residential drug rehabilitation places."