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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Baroness, and I shall listen to her throughout the debates on this Bill. I have to say that I did not speak on Second Reading, but I am totally opposed to the Bill; I say that in case noble Lords have not got that idea by now. The Government claim that they have a mandate that is a majority for the Bill, but I have to point out that they got only 37 per cent of the vote. If you look at the totality of the people, they got only 20 per cent, which means that 63 per cent of voters did not vote for this Bill. You have to be very careful when you say that you have a mandate for something when 63 per cent of the population has voted against it. Please do not get up and lecture me about the arguments about mandates and what have you. I have been around, locally and nationally, for a lot longer than some people in this House. I understand that mandates and such have their importance. On the other hand, they have to be put in perspective when we are dealing with such a Bill as this, which reduces the freedom that people enjoy in this country. The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, referred to proving that one is a British subject. I am 79, and I have not yet had to prove that I am a British subject with an identity card except during the last war, and that was very different from what is being proposed now. This Bill is taking us not forward but a long way back. I want to return to the freedom that we enjoyed some years ago before both parties began undermining the freedoms that are so valuable and make this country what it is.