After six years of trying to force people in Britain to have an identity card, the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, in a recent speech said: “Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens just as it is now to own a passport.”

I welcome this U-turn by the government but what a shame that £200million of taxpayers’ money has been wasted on trying to impose identity cards on the British people against their will.

Coun D Pearson, Blackburn