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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, we are all in the debt of the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, because of his full explanation of this group of amendments and of the Government’s objections to Amendments Nos. 19 and 42. I do not know whether the treacle pudding has got the better of me, but I will have to study his reply rather carefully away from the Chamber, because I did not follow it dot and comma. Indeed, I got a bit anxious at one point. One belief that we have all been clinging to is that Clause 1 prescribes everything that can go into Schedule 1 and that if something is not within the purview of the registrable facts, it cannot be in the schedule. The reply at least made it clear that evidence behind the registrable facts can be on the register. I must be honest and say that hitherto I had not taken cognisance of that. I am somewhat relieved to see that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, is in the same position. The matter needs a good deal more thought. Evidence supporting registrable facts could be quite extensive and make the pool into which the security services, the police and so on can dip that much deeper and broader. At this moment, however, the only proper thing is for me to withdraw my amendments. There may need to be some discussions before Third Reading; I am sure that the noble Lord and the noble Baroness will welcome that. If necessary, we may have to go further, but let us hope not.