Does Labour think it is losing the debate on ID cards? (UPDATED)

An interesting snippet from some of the Labour material in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election: they are attacking the Conservative candidate for the (current, known to have changed a few times) Conservative policy of opposing ID cards.

However, from what I’ve seen of it, they’ve mostly given up on most of the arguments previously used and instead retreated into the following very narrow approach:

Do you oppose making foreign nationals carry an ID card?

The use of the word “foreign” there seems to come with some rather unpleasant overtones in this context, the implication being that ‘ooh, foreigners – they’re terribly nasty aren’t they – so surely you can’t be against keeping tabs on them now, can you?’

The more positive aspect of this slightly desperate approach is that it could indicate overall how badly the case for ID cards is going for Labour. The campaign group No2ID has been busy running online adverts in the constituency, which may be adding to the pressure on Labour.