Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, if the noble Lord had waited, I was going to say that this House certainly has the power to force the use of the Parliament Act. It is there to deliver the primacy of the Commons. I also said—and it is a matter of fact and is nothing to do with free votes—that if we used the Parliament Act on this Bill, it would be the first major manifesto programme Bill passed under the Parliament Act since 1949. In fact the noble Lord was actually agreeing with me. I should point out that there have been three votes on this issue—once on Report, and twice during ping-pong. The most interesting aspect of those votes, apart from the fact that the government Benches consistently outvoted the Conservative Benches on each occasion, was the Cross-Bench vote—three to one against the Government on Report; three to one against them in the first ping-pong vote; and last week 24 Contents and 25 Not-Contents. It seems that at least some Cross-Benchers are beginning to think that enough is enough. Is the same thought occurring to some former Members of the Commons who are sitting opposite—former Leaders, Chief Whips, Cabinet Ministers and others? Today’s amending Motion goes much further than the Parliament Act in the delay that it will provide for. There would be three Parliaments and two general elections before this part of the Bill could become law. In fact the delay is much longer. It would be better for the Government to force the use of the Parliament Act, because they would get the Bill that they wanted much quicker. No government are supposed to incur any public expense on a measure in a Bill until that Bill receives a Second Reading in the Commons, which would be the case if this Bill were accepted. Would the Government be right to spend all the money they needed to on planning, IT work and the rest if there was a possibility that the Bill could be repealed if the Conservatives won the next election? Is that a correct use of public funds? A convention of this House, which is at least as important as the Salisbury convention, states that the elected government are entitled to have their business considered without unreasonable delay. That is linked with the other convention that the primacy of the Commons, as expressed through the Parliament Act, should finally prevail. This Motion drives a coach and horses through both conventions. The whole debate we have had on this—the three rounds of ping pong—underlines the importance of the appointment of a Joint Committee to consider the relationship between the two Houses.