The MP, who strongly criticised the plans in the Queen’s Speech debate, believes the change of Home Secretary following the resignation of David Blunkett is an opportunity for the Government to reconsider what he describes as an “ill thought out scheme”.

He said, “What the people of Angus want is more police officers to fight the type of crime that scars our communities. Identity cards do not catch criminals — police officers do.

“The ID card scheme looks like becoming a huge black hole for money as, already, estimates of cost have risen from three to six billion pounds.

“The technology to support the scheme is untried, and we could be looking at a computer disaster on the scale of the Child Support Agency fiasco.

“That amount of money could put many more police officers on our streets and provide a real chance of combating crime in our communities.”

Mr Weir added that the Government itself, in trying to “sell” the scheme to the public, seemed totally confused as to what it could achieve.

He said, “There is absolutely no evidence that ID cards will help in combating crime or terrorism. Indeed, the Government is all over the place on what ID cards are and what they are meant to achieve.

“I heard one Minister on the radio describing ID cards as a means of dealing with identity fraud, asylum, crime, fraud in public services and terrorism, as well as offering gold-plated proof of identity.

“That is a lot for one little card to manage to do, but other Ministers have told us they are no different from a store card or a driving licence. They cannot be both.

“This ill thought out scheme will be costly, bureaucratic and unsuccessful. The new Home Secretary should abandon it now and redirect the vast costs into effective measures to tackle crime, like more police on the beat.”