IT will be interesting to see how many people sign up for the government’s new ID cards.

East Lancashire residents will be amongst the first in the country to be able to get their hands on them.

But will people be willing to fork out the £30 for the card plus the unannounced cost of having their biometric details taken?

The ID card scheme was launched as a measure to help tackle terrorism and prevent fraud.

It was meant to be compulsory and contain all manner of details including finger print details.

Since then the scheme, which has already cost millions of pounds, has been watered down so that it is now optional.

Yesterday the government admitted that the scheme was not the answer to terrorism threats to the country.

They also dropped plans to make it compulsory for airside workers.

Conservative Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said that he was amazed that the scheme had not been scrapped.

It looks unlikely that the Tories will keep the scheme if they win power at the next election, which is sure to effect whether or not people sign up to them.

With the government looking to save money, critics are saying that the cost of implementing this scheme cannot be justified.

The number of people willing to sign up for ID cards in East Lancashire and the rest of the North West may well determine whether the scheme is rolled out to the rest of the country.