Identity Cards Bill

I want to make a very brief contribution. I was a member of the Committee that considered the original Bill and it seems to me that few Bills have been subject to as much debate and scrutiny as this one. I was interested to hear the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) tell us that millions of people are against this measure. In my constituency, it seems that thousands are in favour of it, so I do not know where he takes the temperature. I welcome the compromise on offer tonight. I thought for one horrible moment that we were going to witness the spectacle that the Tory party membership witnessed during their recent leadership election: the remarkable facility of the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, or, in this case, from the jaws of a respectable draw. What we actually witnessed tonight was the alternative: him marching his troops to the top of the hill, screaming from the top of his voice that he is against every single measure in the Bill, and yet, at the end of the process, telling them to march back down and vote for it. If that is his principle, I am glad that I am on the Government side of the Chamber and not on his.