The most serious objection to the ID scheme Tony Blair plans to force on us is not that they will cost a lot of money.

Nor is it the cards will wear away our already threadbare freedoms. Similarly it is not because they will fail to do what the Government claims.

The scheme is a step in precisely the wrong direction. Identity cards will not, as ministers claim, make everyday life safer. They will make it more expensive, more inconvenient and, above all, more dangerous.

Setting up the scheme and trying to keep track of some 60m people will cost a huge amount of money.

The possibilities for computer foul-ups and aggravation are endless. And, as taxpayers, we have to pay for the fiasco.

Already we have no real say in the affairs of our communities and no influence on what the UK does abroad.

Soon, we shall just be names on the state's lists, waiting to be told about the latest folly the prime minister has persuaded himself is the right thing to do.

Unbiased experts agree ID cards will have no effect on crime, tax and benefit fraud, drug abuse, vandalism, anti-social behaviour or terrorism.

Michael Reeves Mackenzie Way Gravesend