Clause 8 - Issue etc. of ID cards
Identity Cards Bill
5:30 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Woking, Conservative)
No, I am not directly suggesting that. I remind the hon. Gentleman, whose experience is not inconsiderable, that in Committee it is worth trailing arguments. One of the arguments that I am trailing this afternoon is value for money. Whether the global sum is £5 billion or £1 billion, whatever the amount or wherever it comes from, everything boils down to price and cost and money best spent.
I quote the words of my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis), the shadow Home Secretary, on Second Reading:
''My fourth test is the cost-effectiveness of the scheme . . . The introduction of the Bill saw the cost of the ID card scheme almost double overnight, from £3 billion to £5.5 billion.''—[Official Report, 20 December 2004; Vol. 428, c. 1964.]
So, let us look at the question of cost and go back a little in time. Irrespective of who pays, the whole issue of the cost of this scheme needs to be looked at, not only in the interests of the taxpayer generally, but also in the interest of the individual who may be called upon to pay some or all of the cost.
The hon. Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Tynan) shakes his head as though the issue of cost is irrelevant. I am proposing to tease out of the Government, as the Home Affairs Committee—unsuccessfully I think—sought to do, what they regard as the likely cost of the scheme.