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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I am giving my view that, if there is an identity card scheme, drivers will be much more careful about giving false names when stopped by the police. That is my view; noble Lords are entitled to challenge it, but I believe that it will be one of the benefits of the scheme. Processing criminals, especially in custody suites, will be much easier. Indeed, in my view policing will be much more effective and much time will be saved on routine business. That is important because it means that more time and officers will be available to focus on more serious crime, on level 2 crime and protective services. Surely, we all want to see that as a matter of course. So if I am right and that is one of the great benefits of the scheme, it will benefit not only policing but the man in the street and his security. We need to look at costs and benefits in the round. If I did not believe that the benefits would outweigh the costs, I would not support this scheme—and I believe that noble Lords opposite are being extremely pessimistic and very narrow in their focus. The picture is much more positive than many noble Lords would have us believe.