Ministers reject ID card roll-out

Identity cards were rolled out to foreign nationals last year

The Scottish Government has told Westminster it remains "completely opposed" to its plans to roll out identity cards across the UK.

In a letter to the Home Office, Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing said the cards posed an "unacceptable threat" to civil liberties.

He was responding to a consultation on a code of practice relating to the scheme, which is a reserved matter.

The rules must be in place before the first cards are issued to UK citizens.

Mr Ewing told junior Home Office minister Meg Hillier that money allocated to the scheme would be better spent on more "worthy" causes, such as schools and hospitals.

He said: "Given the current financial climate, the UK Government should have better uses for the vast sums of money being spent on this scheme, which presents an unacceptable threat to citizens' privacy and civil liberties, with little tangible evidence to suggest it will do anything to safeguard against crime and terrorism."

Clarification sought

His letter also sought "clarification" on some of the detail of the proposed regulations and queried the legality of the national identity register under European human rights rules.

Mr Ewing said the overall costs of the scheme could be