Identity Cards Bill

No polling of any kind has been conducted which has shown that a majority of people do not favour identity cards. Sometimes the lead is larger, sometimes it is smaller, but always identity cards are favoured. The Government’s own polling makes it clear that at a cost of, say, £93 or so, 73 per cent of people support identity cards. At £250, this falls to 63 per cent. The British public want identity cards and are prepared to pay for them. They mandated the Government in the election to introduce them. Not only have they mandated the Government to introduce them, but they are popular; people really want them. I know the noble Lord finds that hard to believe, but they do.