Passport campaign wholly legitimate - Clegg

9.05.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 25th May 2006

We are encouraging people to apply for passports early says Nick Clegg MP

Responding to the Home Office criticism of the Liberal Democrats campaign to encourage people to reapply for passports early, to stop their details being added to the Identity Cards database, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP said: "It is entirely inappropriate for a department of state to question an entirely legitimate form of protest, against a scheme which many people do not support. As recommended by Charles Clarke, we are encouraging people to apply for passports early, to avoid having important personal details added to a database, which may well not be secure. We are recommending that citizens reapply as soon as possible, as the Government refuses to give us a firm start date for their authoritarian scheme."