The government’s plan for digital ID cards is a £1.8 billion white elephant.

It is little more than an echo of the failed Tony Blair ID card scheme, now with an expensive digital element bolted on.

We rejected ID cards then and we reject them now.

Despite the government’s partial U-turn on some compulsory elements of the scheme, the huge cost remains – alongside many other problems.

The ID database itself would still be a major security risk, especially if the data fell into the wrong hands.

Even when IDs are not formally compulsory, there is a tendency to gate more and more public services behind them.

And it would accelerate ‘digital exclusion’, where people without the latest devices are increasingly unable to take part in every element of society.

We should keep our money and keep our freedom by scrapping the whole digital ID scheme.