Part of Identity Documents Bill – in the House of Lords at 5:15 pm on 17 November 2010.
My Lords, the noble Lord who moved the amendment may be slightly surprised to know that I support it, but for reasons that are rather different from those that he put before the House. A friend of mine described the Bill as the King Canute Bill; in other words, it is doing away with something-identity cards-which, in a relatively short time, whatever Government are in power, will have to be reintroduced. That is almost inevitable. I would hope that an appointed independent person would give that recommendation to the Government of the day and say, "Sorry, we have got it wrong. It is time that we reintroduced ID cards". I agree entirely with my friend's view, except that poor old King Canute is the most maligned man in English history, because he never suggested that he could hold back the tide. What he said to his courtiers was, "I cannot hold back the tide". I suppose that it is the first example of PR going badly wrong.
There will come a point where the need for smart card technology will become such that we will have to introduce an identity cards Bill. This amendment would at least allow an independent person to look at it and say, "Sorry, we've got it wrong. Let's have another look. Let's introduce ID cards".