SAY 'NO TO ID CARDS' - LIB DEM PARTY PRESIDENT

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Apr 2008

President of the Liberal Democrats*, Simon Hughes MP, today joined students from Southampton University and their local MP, Sandra Gidley, to launch a petition against the introduction of national ID cards to students.

The government has singled out students to be the first group to receive national ID cards before they are extended to the wider public.

Speaking at Southampton University Students' Union, Simon Hughes MP said:

"Students in Southampton and Hampshire have shown themselves to be rightly sceptical of the unnecessary and illiberal ID cards scheme.

"Recent catastrophes involving personal data clearly demonstrate the inability of the Government to handle sensitive information.

"The government thinks it can snare local students and young people in their trap first - simply because they see them as soft targets. They are acting like bullies in the playground.

"The more names we get on the petition - the greater the signal that will be sent to the government. I urge all students in Southampton and across Hampshire to sign this petition and to say no ID cards."

The petition, which is open to all students in Hampshire, will be presented to the Prime Minister in the coming months.

"I am pleased that our local students are taking such a stand over this issue" added local MP, Sandra Gidley.

"It is a disgrace that the government are holding them to ransom and forcing them to surrendering their last vestiges of individual privacy on demand to the state.

"The financial cost of the scheme should also be taken into account. I'm sure we would all rather see 200 new hospitals or an extra 10,000 police on the beat.

"I have offered my full support to the students in their campaign and hope that a groundswell of opinion will bring Ministers to their senses.

Simon Hughes MP and Sandra Gidley MP with students at the launch of the petition at Southampton University

ENDS