Clause 28 - Identity documents for the purposes of s. 27
Identity Cards Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Woking, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 232, in clause 28, page 24, line 41, leave out from 'licence' to end of line 43.
I have something constructive to say on this amendment. By way of background, I should say that the clause lists and defines the identity documents. It relates back to clause 27, which deals with being in possession of false documents with an intention to commit an offence. If someone is in possession of a document that is not properly theirs, and has the intention of using it to identify themselves, that is an offence.
I am slightly concerned about driving licences issued outside the country. The issue comes down to culpability, at the end of the day. Many people from various places who are lawfully present in this country drive cars. They can do so for one year—that is the maximum time for which one can drive on a licence from another country. After that, one is obliged to take an English test, apply for a provisional licence and so on.
The police regularly stop a driver and, on discovering that he is not a British citizen with a British driving licence, ask to see his driving licence. In response, a foreign driving licence is produced, and that is valid for one year. But one needs to look at the purposes of the production. The purpose of producing even a doctored, not genuine foreign driving licence is to persuade the police that one is driving lawfully; it is no more than that.
There is a culpability difference here; Someone may seek to establish their identity by the production of an unlawful document when in fact they are here lawfully, and their only purpose in so doing may be to avoid the allegation of driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence. That kind of offence would be dealt with at a very low level in magistrates courts, and is vastly different from an offence at the top end of the scale. I have my concerns about the fact that we are dealing with such a huge range. I hope that the Minister can distinguish, both in his mind and for me, between the person whose intent is to cause serious mischief and the person whose intent is simply to identify himself, for the purposes of the driving issue only. I am sure that the Minister understands the point that I am rather laboriously making.