Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I am most grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this fascinating debate. It has covered some weighty matters. But I must immediately make plain why, despite the, as ever, articulate and persuasive words of the noble Baroness, I disagree with her flatly. She said that Bill after Bill has made clear that this is voluntary. We are not talking about Bills before the last general election; we are talking about the Government’s manifesto last year. It really is playing Humpty Dumpty to pretend that the expression ““rolled out on a voluntary basis in connection with passports”” can conceivably be construed as compulsory. As I tried to indicate two stages ago, the word ““voluntary”” qualifies ID cards, not passports. I did not want to weary the House with the matter, but the noble Lord, Lord Saatchi, has put it very succinctly. The first point of the noble Lord, Lord Carter, was that this is a manifesto Bill. This is manifestly not a manifesto Bill. That is the point.