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Identity Cards Bill

My Lords, I too support the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Pearson, as I did previously. I thank him for bringing the matter before the House and for doing so much research on it. I do not intend to speak for long. The noble Lord mentioned driving licences. It is well within my memory that the noble Baroness, Lady Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister, ridiculed the idea that there would one day be a European driving licence, or that we would have the European flag on our car number plates. But that has come to pass. I know we will be told that we need not worry about anything; this comes under, I think, the first pillar, so there would have to be primary legislation before we could have a European driving licence. Under the proposed European constitution, however, those pillars are dismantled and there is only one constitution, without the protection of individual agreements between individual nations. In that sense, as we have been told we are protected by the pillars, if the constitution comes into being, the fears of the noble Lord, Lord Pearson, may well be realised. We will be told that there is no prospect of the constitution being brought forward, but the Prime Minister said last week that there was. The whole thing may be resuscitated; the pillars that protect us—according to the noble Baroness, when we last discussed these matters—will be abolished; the European Union, under the new constitution, may be able to introduce a European identity card, probably under qualified majority voting; and the British Parliament will be compelled to accept it.