Identity Cards Bill

Yes, I accept that. When I referred to unaffordabilty, I had in mind the noble Lord’s statement about an order of magnitude of billions far beyond what is anticipated and what the Government have said so far. But I suggest that there are many other stages of financial analysis and timescales that would have to be gone through before coming anywhere near that total. I do not speak for the Government, but I try to recall from memory that in the other place the Government said that if some projections based on the LSE analysis were to be assumed, it would not happen at that cost. The Government said that the £300 per passport would not be a cost acceptable to them. There are great potential benefits here. Of necessity we must be tentative about what they might be, but, again, credit to the Government. Noble Lords will see that the Home Office has produced a benefits overview, which gives a range of benefits—although they may be speculative to an extent—of up to £1.1 billion per year. So, to conclude, I congratulate the Minister and the Home Office on the measures taken to monitor and control the cost of the programme.