Protecting your Liberty

In Parliament we have recently voted on a series of major pieces of legislation that will have a significant impact upon the way in which we all live our lives. In line with my personal principles and the manifesto you re-elected me on as your Liberal Democrat MP last year, I have sought to protect the British people from harm while safeguarding our civil liberties.

I voted in favour of banning smoking in enclosed public places because of the harm passive smoking does to the health of the two thirds of the population who do not choose to smoke. I successfully voted twice to defeat the Government's proposals to censor freedom of speech on religious issues. I unsuccessfully voted against the Government's plans to impose the most expensive, intrusive and complex system of Identity Cards in the world.

Derbyshire's Labour MPs were elected last May on a manifesto pledge to introduce voluntary identity cards. On Monday night they all broke that pledge to their constituents. It will now be compulsory to buy an ID card and register on the national identity database when you apply for a new passport, at a cost of £93 per person or almost £400 for a family of four. The only way in which people will be able to opt out of the system is by giving up their right to travel abroad.

The Government's ID cards plans are now completely discredited. They will not help to fight crime or terrorism. The terrorists who attacked New York in September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005 all carried valid identity documents.

Former head of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, has stated: "I don't think that anybody in the intelligence services would be pressing for ID cards… If we have ID cards at vast expense and people can go into a back room and forge them they are going to be absolutely useless."

Nor will ID cards help tackle most illegal working. Employers in industries with high levels of illegal labour are already required to check identity documents. As for benefit fraud, only 5% is due to people using false identities so ID cards will make little difference there either.

While failing to protect the British people from the threat of terrorism or fraud, the Government's legislation will pose a dangerous threat to our liberties. A detailed picture of our daily lives will be created on a huge central register and our personal data will be shared without our consent.

ID cards are an exorbitantly expensive way of achieving very little. The London School of Economics has estimated that introducing ID cards and setting up the huge computer network required will cost up to £19 Billion, rather than the £6 Billion optimistically claimed by the Government. The Government should abandon their plans and use the savings to put 10,000 more police on the streets. This will be more effective in tackling crime and the terrorist threat.