Identity minister forgets ID card

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/8415099.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Identity minister Meg Hillier arrived at a photocall to promote identity cards, but then realised she left her own at home.

She travelled to Liverpool to announce a further roll-out of the controversial identity cards across the North West.

Ms Hillier checked her handbag for the card before putting the slip-up down to the demands of looking after her baby.

Residents of Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria can now apply for the ID card.

The cards cost £30 each and enable the holder to travel across the EU without their passport.

Passport offices

They were made available to people living in Manchester at the end of November.

After Ms Hillier realised she was without her card she posed empty-handed in front of the Liver Building.

The MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch made the journey from London to Liverpool by train on Monday, ahead of an official announcement made by the Home Secretary.

Applications for the cards will open on 4 January. From February, applicants will be able to enrol at passport offices in Liverpool and Blackburn.