Identity Cards Bill

I assure the noble Earl that it was not the intention of the Home Office or my right honourable friend the Home Secretary—and it would never have been mine—to show anything other than the utmost respect for the Select Committee on the European Union. The noble Earl, of all people, knows the high regard in which the committee is held, the attention that is paid to it and the information that is given to it to ensure that it can do its work. The decision clearly made by the Home Office was that this was not a matter that had to go before the committee. The committee was apprised of it as a matter of courtesy as that was thought to be right but, according to the Justice and Home Affairs Council, no procedure demanded that such a submission should be made. That was contained in the letter written by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary to the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell. I understand the sensitivity expressed by the noble Earl in that regard, but I assure him that no discourtesy or disrespect was intended by the process adopted on this occasion.