Identity Cards Bill

rose to move, as an amendment to Motion D, Amendment D1, leave out from ““House”” to end and insert ““do insist on its Amendments 16 and 22””. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move Amendment D1 as an amendment to Motion D. On 23 January, at the Report stage of the Identity Cards Bill, this House voted by a majority of 44 to make the Bill voluntary. As a mark of the seriousness with which we view the Bill, and in particular this provision, the Conservative Front Bench and Members on these Benches have agreed only to seek to overturn this amendment among the dozen or so thrown back at us by the Commons. It is not often that it is left to the Opposition to ensure that a government honour their own election pledge, but that is what we will be doing in this House if we insist on our amendment today. Page 52 of the 111-page manifesto on which the Labour Government were elected last year states:"““We will introduce ID cards, including biometric data like fingerprints, backed up by a national register and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports””." On the last occasion, although I must confess not this time, the noble Baroness endeavoured to argue that black was white and that,"““we should not press our amendment because to do so would significantly contravene the clear intention of the people of this country who entrusted the organisation of these matters to this Government””.—[Official Report, 23/1/06; col. 975.]" I shall say a little about the manifesto pledge in a moment.