Lib Dems applaud scrapping ID cards

Vince Cable is the latest politician to promise to end controversial ID cards and NHS schemes

Scrap ID cards, say Lib Dems

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable won a standing ovation at the party’s conference today with a promise to scrap the ID card project, cut back the NHS records database and curb the tax credits system.

He said he would do so to help pay for "the massive cost of the financial collapse" rather than civil liberty or technical IT reasons.

He told delegates in a keynote speech in Bournemouth: "There is no need for the vast central government databases like the ID card, the so-called super database, and the NHS system."

Conservative shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve has already made it clear a Tory government would scrap both ID cards and NHS records projects and curb the police national DNA database.