Conservative party leader David Cameron has pledged that
his party would scrap national ID cards if elected.
The government is holding a major review of its plans to
introduce the multi-billion pound ID card scheme, while insisiting
that it will help in the fight against terrorism, help control
immigration and reduce benefit fraud.
But at this week’s Conservative party conference in Bournemouth,
Cameron said the ID card scheme was a perfect example of government
waste and false promises.
He said of the ID card scheme, “When a half-way competent
government would be protecting our security by controlling our
borders, these Labour ministers are pressing ahead with their vast
white elephant, their plastic poll tax, 20Millennium Domes rolled
into one giant catastrophe in the making.”
In one of the few Tory policies spelt out at this week’s
conference, Cameron said, “ID cards are wrong, they're a waste of
money, and we will abolish them.”
Cameron also criticised the government’s handling of the NHS
National Programme for IT, which has suffered from delays and last
week saw the pull-out of lead contractor Accenture.