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Identity Cards Bill

A variation on the theme highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr. Shepherd) is the argument enunciated by the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) as long ago as November 2003, when he said that identity cards were about tackling alienation and asserting our sense of belonging. I have met several people in my constituency who have complained that they felt alienated from the community, others who felt alienated from the Government, and a proportion who felt alienated from both, but I have yet to meet a single one who has said, ““John, I’m alienated—I have an identity crisis, and I can’t assert my sense of belonging until the Home Secretary gives me my identity card.””