According to Home Office minister Meg Hillier, young people should embrace having all of their personal data taken by the government and stored in one database. Why? Because the ID card they’d get in return would be a “convenient” way of getting into bars.

If this is the best defence they can come up with, even they don’t know why they’re pushing ahead with the expensive and pointless ID cards and associated database!

Young people don’t need an ID card to prove their age – there are plenty of other options out there, such as a driving licence. How many 18 year olds do not have at least a provisional diving licence? There are also a number of other photo cards available fo young people to get, which ae considerably cheaper than the £30 ID card and don’t require entusting all your data to a government which has shown itself incompetent in actually keeping said information secret.

No-one needs an ID card to pove who they are. How many people do not have at least one form of photo ID aleady?! Very few indeed.

If this is the best justification they can think of for this expensive and intrusive programme, even they can’t truly believe it’s worth having.