Clause 8 - Issue etc. of ID cards
Identity Cards Bill
6:00 pm
John Robertson (Glasgow North West, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman must stop trying to compare the Bill with the poll tax. The money involved in the poinding in Scotland was thousands of pounds. We are not talking about thousands of pounds now. We have already heard that 80 per cent. of people carry passports, and this measure is linked to passports. People carry driving licences. People have to pay for those no matter who they are, what work they do, or whether they are in employment. If they want a passport they must pay for it. The hon. Gentleman's argument is about how much people should pay, and that is what we should debate, but the measure bears no resemblance to the poll tax. I do not see people going out in the streets because of payment for ID cards. They may do it because they do not like them, but that is a different argument. If that is the argument that the hon. Gentleman wants, I am happy to have it, but using the Bill as a mask for the poll tax and trying to compare the poll tax and ID cards does not merit consideration.