LABOUR CONTINUES TO WASTE MONEY ON ID CARDS.

LABOUR CONTINUES TO WASTE MONEY ON ID CARDS.

LABOUR FIND BILLIONS FOR VANITY PROJECT BUT DEMAND CUTS IN SCOTLAND

As the Home Secretary announces a trial for ID cards in Manchester, the SNP has rounded on the Labour government for continuing to waste money on the scheme whilst demanding cuts of £500m in Scottish public services.

SNP Home Affairs spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP highlighted the soaring cost of the scheme – which has risen by £221m to £5.324bn. That figure excludes the costs to other government departments and agencies of scanners and equipment for verifying the identity of those trying to access public services.

In the face of real terms cuts to the Scottish Budget, the SNP have called for the scheme to be scrapped, a demand which has even been echoed by the former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who introduced the idea of ID cards eight years ago.

SNP Home Affairs spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP, said:

“It says everything about Labour's priorities that, when they are slashing essential frontline investment, they are throwing away billions on an unwanted, expensive and unnecessary ID card scheme.

“The Labour government’s abysmal record on data protection is reason enough to cancel the scheme, but now that their has confirmed plans to make a cut in Scottish spending in the middle of the recession, it must be obvious that vanity projects like ID cards and Trident should be ditched completely.

“The SNP opposed ID cards from the very outset, and the chorus against the scheme is growing louder by the day. First, Stephen Byers, then David Blunkett and now Ken Livingstone too.

“Labour in Scotland are now in the embarrassing position of defending Tory-style cuts whilst supporting billions being wasted on weapons of mass destruction and big brother style ID cards.”