Clause 7 - Procedure for orders under s. 6
Identity Cards Bill
5:15 pm
Alistair Carmichael (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
Thank you, Mr. Gale. Primary legislation, however, cannot be struck down. It can be disapproved by Parliament, which is what happened with the Law Lords in respect of the detentions at Belmarsh and the anti-terrorism legislation that we dealt with towards the end of the previous Parliament.
Secondary legislation is open to challenge and the nub of the point that I want to bring to the Committee's attention is whether the clause will remain secondary legislation for the purposes of a Human Rights Act challenge? Is it something that, for example, could be struck down by a court making an order if it felt that the necessary conditions had not been met? It would be infinitely preferable that, for a scheme to include an element of compulsion as opposed to a voluntary scheme, which we currently have—nominally, least—we proceed by way of primary legislation. Clearly, the Government take a different view, and I want to the Minister to explain the thinking and reasons behind that different view.