---

Identity Cards Bill

I apologise to those Opposition Members who still wish to speak, but this section of debate will conclude a quarter to 6, and a lot of serious issues have been raised about the purpose of the scheme, so it is only right to address them in detail. Clause 1, with which we are preoccupied, sets out the purpose of the national identity register, and I would tell the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) that two very clear statutory purposes for the Bill are given in that clause: first, to provide a convenient method by which individuals can prove who they are—he recognised that he might indeed welcome that—and, secondly, to provide a secure and reliable method by which public bodies and others can ascertain identification and thereby better serve the public interest.