Wrong.

While you may be correct in thinking that a parliament cannot bind the hands of its successors, when it comes to contracts with govt departments those contracts are binding.

However, AFAIAA, there are normally get-out clauses should a contract be linked to the implementation of a particular policy (such as ID cards).

It seems here that all the infrastructure to run an ID card system is going to remain in place, ready to be reactivated somewhere down the line.

Somehow, I had a feeling that, despite the promises, this one wasn't going to go away in a hurry.