Government suffers another ID Card defeat

The government ID cards bill has suffered two more defeats in the House of Lords after peers voted in favour of further amendments to the proposed legislation.

The report stage of the ID cards bill in the House of Lords was completed on Monday with peers voting for the ID card watchdog to be appointed by the Crown instead of the Home Secretary and for the watchdog to report to parliament and not the Home Secretary.

A final reading of the ID cards bill will now take place in the House of Lords next week before it returns to the House of Commons, where the government is expected to ask MPs to reject the amendments made by the Lords over the last two weeks.

During the final report stage of the bill on Monday, Home Office minister Baroness Scotland of Asthal said transsexuals awaiting a sex-change operation will be issued with two ID cards, one for their birth gender and one for their post-op gender.

The Lords have already inflicted major defeats on the government by voting to block the ID cards bill until the costs have been scrutinised by parliamentary watchdog, the National Audit Office, and by making it voluntary for people to enrol on the national ID register.