ID cards attacked by opposition parties

The Home Office's plans to extend the voluntary ID pilot scheme to 16 to 24-year-olds in Greater London next month have been slammed by both the Tories and Liberal Democrats.

The announcement follows a pilot of the scheme to adults in Greater Manchester, which saw 3,000 ID cards distributed, and has been lauded by the government as "highly successful".

However, shadow immigration minister Damian Green has issued a statement warning youngsters not to waste £30 of their money on "this pointless scheme" because an incoming Conservative government will scrap it.

And Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne said: "discredited ID cards are now being endorsed as a billion-pound way of getting students into pubs - the official line is that they will provide proof of age."

The extension of the scheme from 8 February was announced in a written statement in the Commons from borders and immigration minister Phil Woolas. The statement read: "[The extension of this scheme] follows the successful implementation of the introduction of voluntary ID cards in Greater Manchester, at Manchester and London City airports and, from 4 January, to the whole of the rest of the North West region of England containing a population of more than 6.7 million.

A Home Office spokesman said that the actual number issued is now more than 3,000 and growing. He said: "We receive 1,000 calls a day from people requesting an application pack."

A press announcement from the Home office stresses the usefulness of the cards for buying age restricted goods. It says: "Young people across the capital buying alcohol, computer games and DVDs, going to the cinema or to a club, know how important it is to have an official proof of identity which is easy to carry."

It says half of lost passports belong to young people under 30 and a tenth of them are lost while being used as ID on a night out. The announcement suggests cards will be less likely to get lost because they can fit "snugly" into a wallet.