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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy of Lour, that such is her reputation that any Minister would be in terrorum to come before your Lordships’ House without having a proper answer on Scotland. I am assured that the Scottish position has been canvassed, that there has been consultation, and that this is not an issue which need trouble the noble Baroness. If that were not the case, I would expect to see a huge part of my brief directly relating to her concerns. To reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay of St Johns, I understand her concerns both in relation to the ECHR and having that confirmation—we have thought about that—as well as having a better explanation of why we think that this is not the right time to look at the different registers. I understand the anxieties that she and other noble Lords—particularly those who have spoken so often about the needs, safety and security of children—and why those issues are uppermost in her mind. Those concerns do her honour, as they do the kinswoman of the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, who is not currently in her place but whom he represents so effortlessly. There is not a whisper of difference between them, and they are conjoined in more ways than one.