Clause 1 - The National Identity Register
Identity Cards Bill
11:00 am
Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Harborough, Conservative)
The hon. Lady might care to drive her car and park it somewhere, and she might find that some privately employed official—not a civil servant—will require her either to move it and have the car photographed or to answer to him. Such a person has no statutory right to do that, but we are creating a culture of interference in the life of the citizen, and the Bill is the latest representation of that. If the hon. Lady finds that an acceptable way to go, she wants to live in a different sort of country from the one that I want to live in, and a different sort of society from the one in which most of our fellow citizens want to live.
What possible objection can the Government have to the amendment? What possible objection can there be to a requirement that only those “who reasonably require proof” should have an entitlement to ask for it? If “convenient method” is to have any meaning, it must mean convenient for us, the individuals whose registrable facts are on the database. It should not mean convenient for the Government, who should be the servants of the people. It should be the right of the people to ensure that the Government and their servants behave correctly and appropriately.
Those who want the national identity register to come into being should at the very least ensure that the standards of behaviour and conduct of those who wish to operate the system are of the highest. I therefore require the Government to explain, to the Committee and to the public at large, why our amendment should be considered controversial in any way. I urge the Committee to accede rapidly to my request that the amendment become part of the clause.