Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran Katy Clark has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement in his speech to the Labour Party conference that the Government will not seek introduce compulsory ID cards to British citizens in the next Parliamentary session. Identify Cards were introduced to foreign nationals in November 2008 and the Government had planned to eventually make the scheme compulsory for all UK citizens and residents in attempt to reduce identity theft however in his speech to the Labour Party Conference the Prime Minister confirmed that this would no longer be the case.
Welcoming the announcement Ms. Clark said “I am delighted that the Prime Minister has abandoned any plans to make Identity Cards compulsory in the United Kingdom. The introduction of identity cards would have been very expensive, a potential fiasco and in my view had potential major implications for civil liberties in the UK with little to no benefit in return.”
“With some people suggesting the true cost of Identity Cards could be up to £20 billion it is clear the money which would have been used making this scheme could have been better used elsewhere, for example on our public services.”
The local MP has been a long time opponent of the Identity Card scheme voting against the Identity Card Bill in Parliament at both its 2nd and 3rd Reading in the House of Commons and regularly campaigning against the measure during her time as an MP.