Identity Cards Bill

I hear what the noble Baroness says, but at the moment if one has a passport, or has only recently obtained a passport, it will last for 10 years. Therefore, throughout that period you will not have to even think about the issue, unless you specifically want, for your own purposes, to become additionally registered so that you can get an ID card and just use it to go to Europe. Many people—and I am sure that the noble Baroness has had this said to her—cannot wait for that to happen because they think that it will be very useful and helpful, and they want it for their everyday lives. But those of us who have a passport which is likely to last a long time—say, for the next 10 years—and anyone who gets a biometric passport, say, next April, and that lasts for 10 years, will have to decide, until the scheme becomes compulsory, whether they want to continue with that. Many will fall within that category. If one has to apply for a passport later, once the designated documents are used—you will get a combined ID card and passport—and you choose not to use your ID card but only to use your passport, that is a matter for you. We have made clear in the Bill that you do not have to carry an ID card with you, you will not have to produce it to anyone and it will not therefore be used as an identity card which has to be produced for any specific purpose. So it enables us to set up the system in a way that is perfectly proper but which retains an opportunity for people to voluntarily apply for an ID card if they still have a current passport, or if they do not want to take advantage of this they do not have to have a passport. It is a choice we all have even now.