National ID scheme

SIR – It is rather tiring to see the idea of ID cards exhumed by Policy Exchange (leading article, July 31). The British public have made it clear time and again that we do not want ID cards, ID numbers, or centralised databases of sensitive information about us.

A national ID scheme requires a centralised database with files on every person in the country. These could include records about our health, tax, travel, benefits, religion, and even fingerprints and “faceprints”.

Theresa May scrapped IDS in 2010, not only because they would “increase state control over decent, lawabiding people” but because they are “ineffective”. In this current climate, there are few areas of consensus in politics – but the public’s preference for freedom over an authoritarian national ID scheme might just be one. We should all feel reassured by that. Silkie Carlo

Director, Big Brother Watch London SW1