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Identity Cards Bill

Of course I cannot bind my successors in title. It is for the noble Baroness opposite and the noble Lords sitting on the Liberal Democrat Benches to say whether they adhere to the view that the Government have taken an appropriate stance. If the day ever came in the long distant future when this Government were no longer able to keep the safety and security of this country properly in their hands, then they would similarly make those undertakings. I cannot speak for the other Benches, but I can say that the structure that we have put in place through the Bill—the order-making power, the limits that have been put on it and the fact that we have the affirmative resolution—would and should constrain any government to act within that framework and give us all an opportunity to have a say, whichever Bench we happen to be sitting on.