Home Office Attempts to Hide Rising Cost of ID Cards

The Home Office has been accused of a "pathetic" attempt to hide that the projected cost of identity cards has jumped to £105. Ministers chose not to fulfill their legal duty to update Parliament on the price of the scheme at the end of March. Instead they waited over a month to give out the details at the same time as the Prime Minister, the project's main supporter, was announcing when he would leave office. Ministers hoped that the PM's announcement would overshadow these new increases. The estimated price of the scheme has increased by £640million in six months. This means that the ID cards will now cost £105 which is a 13 % increase over the previous figure of £93 for each card which the British public will have no option but to pay.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The public will see through this transparent and pathetic attempt to bury bad news. It is also no surprise the Government has had to revise their cost estimate up by so much in less than a year and undermines their criticism of the independent London School of Economics cost estimate of up to £20bn."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said the bad news was "illegally postponed", illustrating the "depths of cynicism" to which ministers were resorting to force through the scheme.

The Civil rights group Liberty said the "dangerous and expensive" card plan should leave Downing Street with its author.
ID cards will carry biometric details on every Briton, as well as up to 50 pieces of sensitive information.

Home Secretary John Reid insists they will make travel easier, proof of age more convenient and proof of identity more secure. Reid's statement is exactly what this Labour Government wants the public to believe while burying the implications of the scheme just as they attempted to bury the increase is cost of the cards.

For the few people out there who still believe the governments spin and think that ID cards may not be such a bad idea please consider the following. Those who will get the ID's, simply because it is the law and not because they have any desire to have their personal biometric information stored on a card , are the law abiding citizens who should not have to. If Labour seriously believes criminals will line up on day one, or at any other time, they need a reality check. The next question is, when ID cards do not achieve the desired results what is next? Microchips implanted under our skin? It may sound far fetched but so did biometric ID cards 20 years ago. We can only hope Labour does not win the next election. I enjoy my freedom. Well, what's left of it anyway. Still not convinced? Visit http://www.no2id.net/ . It will give you a very different perspective on the issue. "There is no evidence the system will produce the stated benefits. Less liberty does not imply greater security." (from the no2id website)