Identity Cards Bill

I stand corrected. The House must forgive me. As an Alice in Wonderland allusion was used earlier, I deleted mine from my notes and clearly made an error in my replacement. As it appears fruitless to continue to ask the Government to use the same dictionary definitions as the rest of the English-speaking world, I shall take a slightly different line of inquiry. If, according to the Government, the scheme will be voluntary, will British citizens be able to withdraw their data from the ID database voluntarily? I know of no database in operation to which individuals can voluntarily enter their data, and from which they are not equally free to remove that information at a time of their own choosing. The Data Protection Act 1998, which sets out the core data protection principles, is clear. It states:"““It must be recognised that even when consent has been given it will not necessarily endure forever . . . Data controllers should recognise that . . . the individual may be able to withdraw consent.””" Just this once, I shall take at face value the Home Secretary’s insistence that the scheme is voluntary. If it is voluntary to enter, based on individual consent, will he confirm that it will also be voluntary to leave it? I am also struck by the breakneck urgency with which the Government seem to want to roll out ID cards by surreptitious compulsion. This week, we mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic shootings in Dunblane. The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 included a provision for a national firearms database, yet almost 10 years later nothing has happened. This week, Ministers told us that the decade-long delay was due to difficulties with the IT systems required for the firearms register. Apparently, at long last, a pilot register will start in May, with a view to rolling it out in fully fledged form a little later. The contrast between the woeful delay in establishing a comparatively small database, agreed 10 years ago after the harrowing loss of life in Dunblane, and the headlong rush towards a vast uncosted, untested and unjustified national ID database speaks volumes.