Identity cards 'dangerous'

IDENTITY cards are "expensive, intrusive and pointless" and should be scrapped, the Conservatives demanded yesterday.

The shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, claimed the multi-billion-pound scheme was a "dangerous threat" to individual freedoms and should not be allowed to go ahead.

And he said plans to introduce the cards at Manchester and London City airports had been opposed by unions, which had vowed to fight them with "all means".

But a junior Home Office minister, Meg Hillier, claimed that the government's plans to trial identity cards for airside workers were backed by union members on the ground, who had been "very supportive".

She claimed the cards would help to improve the speed at which staff could pass through security checks before they started work.