Clause 7 - Procedure for orders under s. 6
Identity Cards Bill
5:15 pm
Andy Burnham (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Leigh, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland for tabling the amendment, because it is an important point. It implicitly acknowledges that although the super-affirmative procedure outlined in clause 7 is in fact secondary legislation, it is closer to primary legislation in terms of parliamentary scrutiny than other forms of secondary legislation.
The hon. and learned Member for Harborough raised some concerns. The process is laid out in such detail, and, for precisely those reasons that we discussed during the debate on the previous clause, Parliament has a commanding role in passing whatever is to be passed. We recognise the seriousness of a request to the British public for people to register under the scheme. For that reason, it is right and proper that their parliamentary representatives have full opportunity to scrutinise the Government's proposals and that Parliament has the ability as laid out in the clause to amend them.