The roll out of the controversial identity cards has already cost the public millions of pounds and the bill is growing, figures show. The daily cost to the taxpayer for the expansion of the biometric documents is now six times the size it was just three years ago. Last month it emerged some 28 million people would have to sign up for an ID card in order to cover the cost of the scheme.
The Identity and Passport Service spent £42 million on developing both the ID cards and biometric passport programmes in the six months since March this year. That was equivalent of £229,508 every day – the highest amount of spending on the joint scheme so far. In 2008/09, a total of £81.5 million was spent – the equivalent of £223,288 a day. Between April 2003 and April 2006, a grand total of £41.1 million was spent – just £37,534 a day, although costs were always expected to rise as the programme expanded and began to roll out.
Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have pledged to scrap ID cards if they win power next year. Overall, the scheme is expected to cost £4.5 billion over ten year, money which the Lib Dems said they would spend on extra police instead.
