Lords defeat ID cards bill for fourth time

Peers in the House of Lords defeated the government's ID cards bill for a fourth time on Monday, after offering a compromise that would make ID card registration voluntary until 2011.

The Lords voted by 211 votes to 175, a majority of 36, in favour of the new amendment proposed by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Phillips of Sudbury that would make it voluntary for people applying for passports to register for an ID card until 2011.

The ID cards bill will now go back again to MPs in the House of Commons who will vote on the new amendment later this week. The bill has become a deadlocked battle of parliamentary 'ping-pong' in recent weeks with neither MPs nor peers prepared to back down.

The House of Lords claims the government is introducing "compulsion by stealth" and going back on its election manifesto pledge to introduce ID cards initially on a voluntary basis by forcing people to register for an ID card when they renew their passport from 2008.

Lord Phillips described it as a "citizen's amendment" and said it was "disreputable and dishonest" to pretend compulsory is actually voluntary.

Conservative peer Lord Saatchi hit back at the government's claims that a passport is a voluntary document which people are not forced to hold, saying citizens need to produce a passport when carrying out daily tasks such as applying for bank accounts.

He said: "It's not possible for a British citizen to carry out basic tasks without a passport. No government should be allowed to insult the intelligence of the public in this way."

But Home Office minister Baroness Scotland of Asthal said peers should drop their opposition to the ID cards bill, respect the superiority of the House of Commons and "bow to their mandate".

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has threatened to use the Parliament Act to force the bill through in the next session if the Lords continues its opposition to the bill.