Cost row threatens to derail ID cards bill

Another political row has broken out over the cost of the government's controversial ID card proposals with peers in the House of Lords threatening to derail the legislation unless the full costs are made public.

The financial arrangements for the proposals are almost entirely secret, raising important questions of constitutional significance.

-- London School of Economics report on the government's ID cards scheme

The report stage of the Identity Cards Bill begins this week in the House of Lords and Conservative peers have made it clear they will attempt to block the legislation unless the Home Office comes clean on the true costs of the plans.

A new report by the London School of Economics (LSE) also slams the secrecy of the costings and calls for planning of the ID cards scheme to be taken away from the Home Office and given to the Treasury.

The report said: "The security of the scheme remains unstable, as are the technical arrangements for the proposal. The performance of biometric technology is increasingly questionable. We continue to contest the legality of the scheme. The financial arrangements for the proposals are almost entirely secret, raising important questions of constitutional significance."

The LSE previously claimed the real cost of implementing ID cards could be as high as £30bn - equivalent to £500 per card.

Professor Ian Angell, head of the LSE's department of information systems said: "We don't know what to believe any more. Contradictions, guesswork and wishful thinking on the part of the Home Office make a mockery of any pretence that this scheme is based on serious reasoning."

Former Labour MP Brian White also argues in his column on silicon.com today that ID cards are a fiasco waiting to happen.