Clause 8 - Issue etc. of ID cards
Identity Cards Bill
5:22 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Woking, Conservative)
I do not speak for the shadow Chancellor, and this is not a frivolous amendment. The hon. Gentleman, whose further contributions to the debate Opposition Members—and Labour Members, I am sure—would greatly welcome, must understand that we are talking about significant issues of cost and security. As to why I am raising the matter when the costs in their entirety will be recovered from the individual, that gives rise to the question of whether I, as an individual, expect to pay £85 for a biometric passport, and whether I would prefer to have the money taken from me and spent in other ways to achieve the same objectives. That is a worthwhile aspect of the debate.
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not feel that I am wasting the time of the Committee; I am sorry that he still has to be here, but he will understand the importance of debating the issues in full, and not simply gliding over them.
I understand that the police and security services want the identity card and the register. There will come a time when the Minister will have to take us through exactly what the police and the security services have said—I hope he will seize the opportunity sooner rather than later—and trail before us the arguments they put forward.
Specifically, have the police discussed among themselves or with Government the option of spending the money that would otherwise be spent on ID cards and the register instead on more police, more customs officers and more security services. What is the so-called best value to the police of those two options, not only in terms of money but also, more usefully, in the fight against terror?