AS WE approach the General Election, readers should be aware that Government plans for 'identity cards' and systematic tracking of everyone are still a threat.

The Home Office admits that ID cards are not the solution to fraud, illegal immigration and working or terrorism. Identity cards haven't prevented these things in other countries, and they won't here. But it still wants them for bureaucratic convenience.

Everybody will be numbered, fingerprinted and have their eyes scanned. You and your family will be treated like criminal suspects. You'll report where you live and when you move.

The point isn't a little plastic card but the giant database covering driving, social security, tax, employment, and health records - making secret computer searches easy for bureaucrats and compromising privacy.

You'll be held responsible for any errors, even ones made by officials. And when the computers break down (as inevitably they will) then it could be your life on the line.

ID cards will cost us dearly. It's not just billions of pounds of taxpayers' money wasted on the scheme, diverted from providing real services, and not just an identity tax of at least £250 per household but in profound changes to our way of life.

Marion Gunn, No2ID Campaign North West, Millom.