ID card claim demolished

The shallow attempt by Geoff Hoon, the Leader of the House of Commons, to link the departure of Hussain Osman from the United Kingdom to the issue of identity cards is a clear demonstration of the government's desperate desire to find any justification for this expensive and intrusive scheme.

Vague assertions of new benefits for ID cards are made each time that ministers' shifting arguments are demolished by critics.

Hussein Osman was able to board the Eurostar train because nobody was checking passports at Waterloo station. What possible difference would it have made if he had carried an ID card as well as a passport to not be checked by the absent border security?

The 18 billion that the London School of Economics estimate that the ID card and national identity register could cost the nation will bring little real benefit. The money would be much better spent on improving our health and education systems and on putting more police on the streets.

GERAINT BEVAN

Leyden Court

Glasgow