Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I hear it remarked that there is nothing wrong with party politics. I entirely agree. I made that assertion because the Leader of the Official Opposition, Lord Strathclyde, gave the game away last Wednesday. He said:"““I am entirely satisfied that there are no Salisbury convention implications if the House were to return this small point back to another place””.—[Official Report, 15/3/06; col. 1245.]" Thus it is on a small point that the Opposition are developing their notion of standing up for what is right. It is on this ““small point”” that the Opposition wish us to return the Bill to the Commons for a fourth time. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with pursuing party-political advantage or objectives. Yet when a party-political objective is pursued in such a manner over a ““small point””, it becomes disreputable.