Plaid Cymru has come out firmly against identity cards for UK citizens.
Commenting on the consultation document published by the Home Office today, Plaid Cymru's policy director and MP for Ceredigion, Simon Thomas MP said: "David Blunkett has refused to disclose how much this scheme is going to cost although people estimate it could be as much as £3 billion. That is more than the entire NHS capital budget for 2003-04 or the cost of some 60,000 extra police officers.
He continued: "Should the Government really be spending billions on ID cards when firstly, there is no correlation between the use of ID cards and crime rates in western countries, and secondly, the Welsh Assembly Government has already stated it has no intention of using ID cards as a passport to public services?
"At the moment, we balance privilege with responsibility. An ID card system tips that scale and reduces citizen to cipher. It forgets that the Government should be subject to the people and instead makes the people subject to the Government. Plaid Cymru therefore opposes the introduction of ID cards both in practice and in principle.