ID card scheme rises by £160m
THE cost of the controversial ID card scheme has gone up by £160 million to about £5 billion.
Official figures were released as it was announced Manchester would be the first test area for Britons wanting ID cards.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would provide security and convenience for people out to protect identities.
The cards, which store fingerprint information as well as a facial scan, would replace the "hotch-potch" of different IDs currently in use, she said.
Mancunians will be able to apply for cards from autumn this year before they go nationwide in 2012.
Estimates put the price to the taxpayer of biometric ID cards and passports for UK citizens at 4,945m, up from 4,785m.
A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service denied that costs had increased.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Rangers takeover: Duff & Phelps threaten legal action against BBC
- Family mourn death of Glasgow ‘fight’ schoolboy
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Rangers administration: Fans fear Duff & Phelps claims could scare off Green
- Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
- Alistair Darling leads ‘No to independence’ fight over tea and biscuits
- Scottish independence: SNP flip-flops over Nato
- Scottish Independence: SNP ‘won’t be Yes campaign’s only voice’
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Scottish independence: ‘People here are best qualified to run Scotland’
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
