'A bad ID-ea'

10:53am Saturday 17th May 2008

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A HIGH-PROFILE politician made the journey from Westminster to York to launch a national student campaign against identity cards.

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat shadow minister for youth and equality, paid her whirlwind visit to the University of York yesterday.

She was joined by City of York councillors for the official launch of the party's youth and student campaign against identity (ID) cards.

Students across the country are being encouraged to sign a petition against the Government scheme after a document was leaked suggesting young people would not be able to register for a student loan without an ID card.

Mrs Featherstone said: "This is a shameful way for the Government to treat students.

"They are effectively tying their arms behind their back and forcing them to have an ID card. It is blackmail."

Her concerns were echoed by the chair of the University of York Liberal Democrat group, Laura Cooney, who claimed the Government was "holding a gun" to the heads of students.

She said: "It seems really unfair. There are students who need a student loan to get themselves through university.

"We don't have a choice, we have to pay the fees if we are going to get the education we have come here for, and this is effectively holding a gun to our heads and saying if we don't do this, we are not going to get an education."

But a Home Office spokesperson said that although from 2010 young people would be encouraged to have ID cards, it would not be compulsory.

She said: "Enrolment is voluntary and there are no plans to make it necessary to hold an ID card to access any services.

"However, we expect that young people will find an ID card a convenient and useful way of providing their ID when accessing both private and public sector services."

The idea behind ID cards is to provide legal UK residents, including foreign nationals, with an easy and secure way of proving who they are.

But Mrs Featherstone said the £6billion scheme would be a "ridiculous waste of money" that would create a bureaucratic nightmare.

She said: "They have ID cards in Spain and that didn't stop terrorists blowing up a train.

"There is also going to be a huge security risk in terms of the database and although the Government says it's safe, everyone is shivering in their shoes."

City of York councillor Ceredig Jamieson-Ball will be co-ordinating a petition for students at the University of York to present to the Government.

He said: "The public's money would be far better spent on putting more police on our streets."