Identity Cards Bill

I am glad that the Home Secretary scrutinised our manifesto with the care and attention that we have devoted to that of his party. Our manifesto stated, dare I say, the flamingly obvious, which is that it was always the Government’s intention to ram the Bill through as a compulsory measure—and that is exactly what they propose to do now, if on the slightly later date of 1 January 2010. We were right back then, we have been right throughout all these debates and we are right this evening. That is why we have consistently argued that the British people should be given another opportunity at the next general election to judge for themselves this illiberal, expensive and possibly unworkable scheme. That is why we agreed with Lord Armstrong when he said yesterday:"““There are a good many people out there who genuinely thought that the Government were proposing a voluntary scheme, and they were prepared to go along with it on that understanding””.—[Official Report, House of Lords; 28 March 2006; Vol. 680, c. 651.]" And on that understanding alone. Incidentally, that is also why I found myself in unusual agreement with the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood)—he is not here now—when he said this afternoon, ““We cannot accept a compulsory identity card in this Parliament, given the Government’s position at the election and the strong sense among our constituents that we want freedom in this country.””