Clause 1 - The National Identity Register
Identity Cards Bill
12:30 pm
Kali Mountford (Colne Valley, Labour)
I point the hon. Gentleman to the ways in which people find their way around systems already, the fraudulent acts that take place and the ways in which documents are duplicated and wrongly shown as proof of identity in many circumstances. It is not difficult for a determined person to deceive, if they want to do so. The provision is simply an extra tool to impede the ability to deceive. It is not a be-all and end-all or a panacea; it is merely an extra, useful tool to add to a panorama of tools available to all sorts of people to identify properly somebody’s right to be here and their right to proceed as they are doing. If somebody were to produce false ID, as they often do already, this provision would be a useful, simple way to try to impede their progress.
If somebody comes into the country using a false identity, they are stuck with it. That is an important part of the Bill. Once that identity, false or otherwise, is established, the ability for that person to reproduce themselves in multiple identities at later points is impeded.