Instead, he urged the Government to use some of the savings to build more prison places, provide more drug rehab in prisons and create a new border police force.
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, has written to Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, giving formal notice that an incoming Conservative administration would scrap the Government's costly ID card project. The Shadow Home Secretary has warned of the financial dangers of the Government signing contracts to set up the ID card scheme when it faces cancellation if the Conservatives are returned to power at the next election.
Mr Dunne said: "On cost, there is a massive bill of £19 billion. On effectiveness, it will fail to stop terrorism, illegal immigration, fraud and ID theft. On privacy, all our fears have been confirmed: it is still a massive reversal of the proper relationship between citizen and the state. This is why we have made it clear that if we win the next election, the new Home Secretary's first act will be to do away with this Bill.
I have received many letters from people in the Ludlow constituency who are also strongly opposed to this scheme and I urge all who feel the same way to tell the Government to scrap their ID card scheme by signing up to an online petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDcards/."
