---

Identity Cards Bill

I thank the noble Lord for his courtesy in giving way. Is he aware that many women from our ethnic minority communities in this country, particularly Asian women, see an identity card as a badge of freedom because they are not allowed to have a bank account, a building society account, a library card or any of the things that many Members of this Committee take for granted? They have said to me that an identity card would enable them to say to their husbands and fathers, ““This is something that I can have so that I can prove who I am””. The noble Lord takes that freedom for granted.