It's Their Fault

Another stunning piece of New Labour spin which I just have to comment on. I think ID cards are a stupid idea because:

• they will cost a huge amount of money.

• they won't actually help to fight terrorism.

• they will mean that the government has far more information on people than they have any right to know.

I'm not an expert on this but the No2ID NewsBlog is a good place to look for more information.

The spin comes from Charles Clarke in the Observer.
The Home Secretary said that the ID card bill will have to be shelved because of opposition from the other parties. He then said:
'It will then become an election issue - which it doesn't have to be. If it is, it will be because the Tories and Liberal Democrats have decided to make it an election issue.'

Good grief, I can't believe he managed to say that with a straight face. And they wonder why people are cynical about politicians.

In the last few weeks I've seen a lot of talk about the possibility of Labour using this strategy but I haven't got time to look up suitable links at the moment. An update may follow.