Home Office brings ID cards to London with youth push

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The controversial National Identity Scheme is set to arrive in London next month, as the Home Office starts offering ID cards to students in the capital from 8 February.

A version of the cards has been doled out to so-called foreign nationals since 2008, with a British edition made available in the northwest last year.

Now, the Home Office is marketing the £30 ID cards to anyone aged 18-14 living in London as a way to identify yourself to buy alcohol or travel in Europe.

"The national identity card will prove an extremely useful tool for young people in London, whether they are opening a bank account, buying age-restricted goods such as computer games or DVDs, entering a nightclub or travelling to Europe," Home Office minister Meg Hiller said in a statement:

The Home Office claimed that 10 per cent of passports lost by the under-30 crowd go missing in nightclubs, saying "as an identity card fits snugly into a wallet, it should help avoid the card becoming lost."

Anti-ID card lobby group NO2ID disagreed with the Home Office's marketing, however. "If it were not for the sinister consequences for anyone foolish enough to be a guinea pig, this would be ludicrous as well as wasteful," national coordinator Phil Booth argued in a statement.

"You can spend £10 on a proof-of-age card from an independent charity with no other commitment; or you can pay £30 now, be fingerprinted, and agree to account for your personal details to the Home Office for the rest of your life," he explained.

Click here for more on the ID card programme.

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