Identity Cards Bill

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Antrim (Dr. McCrea), who always speaks with experience. His experience was missed for many a year in the House, but he is now with us again. It is said often—you know as well as I do, Mr. Deputy Speaker—that it is true that everything that can be said has been said, but not everyone has said it. At this stage of this Bill, everything that could be said, either in the other place or here, has in fact been said. I will thus not particularly draw out my remarks. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg) used his notes copiously, and copiously did he use them. May I give him some advice? He will be better off in the future if he puts more of his thoughts into his mind, rather than reading them from paper. He also said that the Bill was rammed through, but if I may say so, that shows a lack of intellectual rigour in his remarks. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Steve McCabe) said that the Bill has been subject to scrutiny. I wish to be kind to Liberal Democrat Members. I could say that their speeches are sanctimonious and filled with cant and hypocrisy, but I would not wish to cast aspersions on any particular Member. I have sat in the Chamber for many a year listening to the same kind of speech, but they have not had the slightest effect in the country or anywhere else. I hold the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) in high regard. He made a fine speech, but I must remind him that he made the same speeches under the Government of John Major. He literally hacked that Government to death, but when it came to a vote of confidence, he found himself in the same Lobby as John Major. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to find himself in the Lobby tonight with the Liberals, Godspeed to him.