“This afternoon MPs in the Commons voted to reject the peers’ amendments, which would have given an opt-out of the national identity register to people simply applying for a new passport.

“The bill now goes back to the Lords tonight, with parliament breaking for the Easter recess at the end of today’s session.”

Meanwhile, in a wonderful display of governmental misdirection, that disgusting excuse for a Home Secretary (so bad I’m almost pining for the days of David Blunkett or Michael Howard) has offered a “compromise” which spectacularly misses the point: people applying for passports won’t have to carry ID cards for a few more years, but they’ll still have to have their details entered onto the National Identity Database – the real evil at the heart of the project… Nice one Charles, you tit.

Late update: FUCK. The Lords have fallen for it. After a heroic, drawn-out defence they’ve been conned into believing it’s the cards, rather than the database that backs up the cards, that’s the problem.

End result? If you renew your passport you will be on the database, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You won’t have to carry an ID card until 2010 – but as that’s potentially within the lifetime of this parliament, there’s little hope of a reversal. We’re all screwed.