I WRITE in support of Coun Andy D'Agorne's opposition to the introduction of identity cards (November 12).

The civil rights which ordinary people have fought and died to obtain and protect down the centuries should not be abandoned at the whim of a Government intent on eroding our rights and using the war on terrorism as an excuse.

In recent years, we have seen the abolition of the right of silence in criminal cases and the new Terrorism Act allowing suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial without even being able to hear the evidence again them.

The harassment laws, legitimately introduced to protect people from stalkers, are now regularly used by the police to prevent demonstrations, a use for which they were never intended.

How far will we allow the erosion of our civil rights to go?

If ID cards are so useful how did we manage to survive 30 years of IRA terrorism without the need for them?

Did the ID cards carried by people in mainland Europe protect them from outages by the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, ETA etc?

Alan Robertshaw,

Towthorpe Road,

Haxby, York.

Updated: 10:15 Tuesday, December 02, 2003