Identity Cards Bill

: The right hon. Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth) knows jolly well and full well that if the Labour manifesto had said in terms that the Government were going to introduce compulsory ID cards, they would have got a raspberry. We all know from our constituency postbags and from conversations on the doorstep that the people of this country are resolutely opposed to compulsory ID cards, and that was why the Labour party manifesto was drafted as it was. No amount of sophistry by the hon. Member for South Swindon (Anne Snelgrove) will change the fact that the manifesto made it very clear that this is intended to be a voluntary measure. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Mark Fisher) made an excellent contribution today, as he did on Monday, and he summarised this debate neatly on Monday when he said:"““If we believe in a voluntary scheme, as the Home Secretary and the manifesto say that we do, there is no way that we can reject the Lords amendments. By rejecting the amendments, the Government will be opting for compulsion.””" What the Government are seeking to do is simply that—opting for compulsion. But even today the Home Secretary keeps trying. He abandoned his attempts on Monday. On Monday he tried to persuade the House that it was not compulsion—that somehow it was voluntary as to whether or not we actually went and applied for a passport. So when we decided to go overseas, we got this ludicrous Alice in Wonderland description by the Home Secretary:"““That is the free will that people may exercise in deciding whether or not they wish to have a passport—[Interruption.] That is the free will over what they can do and how they can operate. That is what the wording means.””—[Official Report, 13 March 2006, Vol. 443, c. 1260–1.]" It is completely crazy.