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Identity Cards Bill

Briefly, I say again that I find the vagueness of the clause unacceptable. It begins with the words:"““The Secretary of State may by order””." I sympathise with the noble Baroness that she should have the considerable burden of putting through your Lordships’ House a Bill of such vagueness, which provokes real suspicion and hostility. With my sympathy to the noble Baroness, which is not entirely consistent with crocodile tears, I express a slight note of regret that the intending Secretary of State, the present noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor, has not seen fit to put in much of an appearance or show his energetic and enthusiastic support, or his eternal gratitude to the noble Baroness for the burden that she has carried.