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Identity Cards Bill

We ought to be clear about what we are talking about. Surely every time a body obtains access to the register without the subject’s consent, or with the subject’s consent only because he knows he will not get a service unless he does give consent, there is an invasion of privacy and a diminution of the freedom of that person to live without interference by the state or other authority. That is what we are talking about here. I was astonished by some words used by the noble Lord, Lord Gould, yesterday. They reminded me of the slogan above the gates of Auschwitz, ““Work is freedom””. He said that people wanted recognition and that recognition came in the form of an identity card. He added:"““This is their kind of freedom . . . A new kind of freedom and a new kind of identity””.—[Official Report, 15/11/05; col. 1012.]" There is something terribly Orwellian about that. The noble Lord apparently thinks that surveillance is liberty; that is the motto that he would like over the gates to this place. Do the Government share those views of the noble Lord, Lord Gould? Do they think that requiring people to have identity cards will extend their freedom? I should very much like to know whether they agree with those bizarre remarks. I do not think that many people outside this place, whatever they think of identity cards, believe that requiring someone to have an identity card or any other piece of paper that the state thrusts upon him extends his liberty.