Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, ““No”” is the quick answer. The longer answer will emerge in Committee. I am prepared to give the Government a chance to prove that ID cards might be of benefit in some circumstances. I am not convinced that this is the constructed Bill, nor these the circumstances, that will achieve the benefits that the Government have put forward. Unlike the Government, I really am prepared to listen. But patience is running out, given that there has been so little consideration in the House and so much outside. The costs are a matter of deep argument between the Government and those who criticise the Bill. I have seen reports that conventional wisdom puts the overall cost at somewhere between £10 billion and £20 billion. We will obviously have the chance to examine that in Committee, and no doubt on Report and at Third Reading. We will also need to look at civil liberties. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Clinton-Davis, that that is the one issue I carry in my heart; it has to be considered whatever identity card scheme one wants to introduce. That is why, for me, it will underpin our debates throughout the Bill’s proceedings. There are real concerns about civil liberties. The proposed scheme will involve the establishment of the behemoth of the national identity register, the use of the latest technology and the gathering of information on millions of people. That register will be the hub that allows the collation of, and access to, vast amounts of data on individuals—the audit trail which the Minister mentioned—from many government databases. Parliament must oversee the nature of the data used on the cards and control who has access to them. Any project with such huge financial and constitutional implications needs to be justified clearly, as a proportionate and effective response to social need. So far, the Government have not justified the method they have adopted in this skeletal enabling Bill. Unless they can do so, I shall have to remain of my view that the Government’s proposals are not just expensive but excessive, not just illiberal but impractical, and not just unnecessary but unworkable.