Council calls for scrapping of ID cards plan

The proposed digital ID card would be a smartphone app

A council is to write to the prime minister calling on him to scrap plans for digital identity cards.

A vote by East Riding of Yorkshire councillors saw 51 supporting a call to oppose the ID plan, with only five councillors voting against the motion.

It was tabled by Liberal Democrat councillor Jeremy Wilcock who called the idea "an erosion of our civil liberties".

Sir Keir Starmer previously told the BBC it would "cut the faff" for people trying to prove their identity in a range of scenarios, as well as showing they have to the right to work.

The government would introduce a smartphone app which would include information on the holders' residency status, name, date of birth, nationality and their photo.

Wilcock said of the plan: "I just think it is totally immoral to be doing this. It wasn't in Labour's manifesto.

"It's somewhat ironic that 80 years since the end of the Second World War, this government is trying to slip in the sort of authoritarian policy, which so many people fought and died to prevent."

Wilcock added that a number of older people had approached him and voiced concerns about having to use an app on a smartphone.

"I understand their anxiety, their confusion, also the risk of data theft and scamming," he said.

Government officials have stressed it will not function like a traditional identity card, and people will not be required to carry it in public and it would be optional for students, pensioners or others not seeking employment.

Wilcock said the money needed to implement the scheme could be better spent on local services.

"The absolute cost of this nonsense has been estimated by the LSE as somewhere in the order of, I think, £18bn, which is an enormous amount of money for something which was not in the manifesto," he said.

ID cards are opposed by other local politicians.

On Tuesday, the Goole and Pocklington Conservative MP, Sir David Davis, delivered a petition to 10 Downing Street objecting to the plans.

The BBC has contacted the Cabinet Office for a response.

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