Lib Dem councillors are set to continue their campaign for a debate on ID cards after the Labour councillors avoided the issue by talking it out at a full meeting of Haringey Council. They prevented a motion tabled on ID cards being debated and the next opportunity is not until the full council meeting in October.

The Council reached the two motions at the end of the meeting’s agenda with 40 minutes of the meeting remaining. This would have allowed twenty minutes for both sides to speak and vote on each of the two motions.

However, Labour members wasted the full 40 minutes on a party-political motion thinly disguised as a discussion about ASBOs. The tactics of Labour members in avoiding a debate on ID cards will disappoint a large number of local residents in Haringey who feel very strongly about the ID cards issue.

Cllrs Laura Edge and Matt Davies re-submitted the ID cards motion at the end of Monday’s meeting. They want to see a united Council join the local Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Lynne Featherstone, in opposing the Government’s controversial plans.

Cllr Edge (Stroud Green) comments:

“Local residents deserve to know where their councillors stand on this issue and hopefully the Council as a whole will agree to do all it can to lobby against the Government’s outrageous proposals on behalf of Haringey’s residents. We cannot allow the Government to play fast and loose with our civil liberties. ID cards will not solve any problems – but will create more. Community relations in Haringey are excellent, a credit to the great diversity of the borough. The introduction of ID cards can only jeopardise this.”

Cllr Davies (Fortis Green) comments:

“The Council has once again failed to listen to the many residents who are against ID cards. The Labour Government’s proposal to force ID cards on us sends a chill down my spine and I believe we must do all we can to stop this nightmare becoming reality. On ID cards, as with so many issues, Haringey Labour has nothing to offer local people except time-wasting and game-playing. They need to get a grip on reality and listen to the people who elected them.”