---

Identity Cards Bill

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson), whose speech I enjoyed. He has persuaded me that there is more merit to his amendment than I had first seen in it. Had he attached to the report some sort of sanction, as exists in the Lords amendments, I would certainly have been much better disposed to his amendment. I particularly enjoyed his description of the IT companies as intergalactic swindlers, or something to that effect. The thought did just slip through my mind as to what epithets he would apply to the Ministers and civil servants who wrote the cheques and completed the contracts with these IT companies in the first place. It will not be lost on the House that the Minister spoke for 40 minutes. For the first 36 minutes of his speech, he did not make any reference at all to either the Lords amendment or the amendment moved by the right hon. Gentleman.