Government defeated again as Lords block compulsory ID cards by 'back door'

10.27.45am GMT Tue 7th Mar 2006

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Liberal Democrat peers last night defeated the Government for the second time in a week by opposing attempts to introduce compulsory identity cards "by stealth".

Members of the House of Lords voted 227 to 166 - a majority of 61 - to ensure that passport applicants will not have to enter their details on the national identity register.

Lord Phillips, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said it was not just a question of ID cards themselves. Lord Phillips said "What we have here is a bill that is compulsory ... that gives the home secretary 61 order-making powers, that carries heavy penalties for citizen failure and, above all, which has attached to it a major database of our private information, some of it highly personal."