Identity Cards Bill

We have considered it. The issue of compulsion has been part of the debates we have had on passports for at least the past three years. There was an argument that we should simply have introduced the biometric passport, made it voluntary and, in effect, through the passport being the main delivery item, deliver what is a compulsory scheme by any other name, without clearly saying to people, ““We intend this to be a compulsory scheme and we need to have a debate about it””. We talked about that very issue in past debates. The Government took the view that if, in the final analysis, we wanted to have a compulsory scheme, it was only right and proper to make that plain from the inception so we could have that debate. If we restrict the scheme to the 85 per cent of people in this country, approximately, who have a passport—probably more than 45 million—questions arise about the other 15 per cent who do not and whether there is a disparity between the two. All those issues have been carefully considered. That is why this is the primary legislation; we are saying to the House that, in the final analysis, we believe a compulsory scheme is the right way forward, although initially the proposal is that it should be voluntary.