The A to Z of ID cards

M is for Money

The Identity and Passport Service currently estimates that the passport/ID card package will cost around £93. A 10-year standalone ID card is likely to cost around £30 at current prices.

But according to calculations by the London School of Economics the government has seriously underestimated the cost of the project.

It says the whole ID card scheme will cost up to £19.2bn over 10 years, compared to the government's estimate of £5.8bn.

And the costs could rocket by another £5bn to £10bn because of the cost of updating all government department IT systems to make them work with ID cards.

One silver lining - the government has calculated the introduction of ID cards could provide businesses with £425m in benefits, through speeding up processes and cutting fraud, although they will have to pay for ID card readers which could cost as much as £750.

A is for Act
B is for Biometrics
C is for Compulsory
D is for Data privacy worries
E is for EDS
F is for Forgery
G is for Government IT
H is for Home Office
I is for Identity and Passport Service
J is for Jury
K is for Hong Kong
L is for London School of Economics
M is for Money
N is for National Identity Register
O is for Other cards
P is for Passports
Q is for Quarter
R is for Refuseniks
S is for Self-destruct
T is for Terrorist
U is for Utility bill
V is for Verification
W is for When
X is for Xenophobia
Y is for Young people
Z is for London Zoo