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Identity Cards Bill

Perhaps it might assist the Committee if I respond to that now, since we are at Committee; it might inform further debate and the Minister may want to respond. I was going to address this issue in my winding-up speech. I think it is commonly misunderstood that this amendment might have that effect. I do not believe that it does and it certainly is not the intention. The intention is to make it clear, at the very beginning of the Bill, to every member of the public who will be compulsorily registered, what their rights are when they apply for a new passport or renew a passport. It is to give them security about whether they are able to refuse agreement or validation to be accessed; that very freedom that the noble Baroness, Lady Corston, has rightly wanted to focus on. I do not believe that my amendment has the negative results that the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, believes. There is certainly scope for further amendments, later in the Bill, which may well reflect his concerns. I do not think mine cuts the Bill off at the knees.