ID cards cost soars

The identity card scheme was plunged into turmoil today as the cost of each card rose to £93.

On the day that Home Secretary Charles Clarke published a new ID cards Bill, his officials admitted they had been forced to add an expensive extra security feature.

The cards will now carry three scans of the holder - fingerprints, eyes and face - rather than one or two as originally planned. The change adds £5 per card to the Government's previous estimate.

The Home Office refused to disclose the updated cost of introducing ID cards, last estimated at £3billion, claiming the new figure was commercially sensitive-A further £5.8billion will be put towards running costs in the first 10 years of the scheme - another increase on the last official estimate.

A trial involving 10,000 volunteers found that the biometric tests used to verify a cardholder's identity were highly unreliable.

The experiment, the first to be carried out in real-life conditions, found failure rates of four per cent for verifying eye scans, 19 per cent for fingerprints and 31 per cent for face scans.

Yet ministers insisted that they were still on course to issue the first ID cards in 2008, with biometric passports to be issued from next year. The target for ID cards to become compulsory for all British citizens is 2012.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "Those who know far more than I suggest that the technology is moving in the right direction."

In the pilot project it took an average of eight minutes to record each person's scans before the card could be issued. There was a higher failure rate among participants who were black, disabled, over 59 or wore glasses. Researchers called for further studies.

Ministers claimed the trial had shown that the public was ready to accept ID card technology. Few volunteers had complaints about the registration process and most found it simpler and less intrusive than they had expected.

The figure of £93 represents the cost of issuing each card. The fee cardholders will pay has not been decided, but if it is lower than £93 taxpayers will pay the difference.

Mr Clarke now faces a bloody battle to push the legislation through the Commons, with the first major debate scheduled for tomorrow. The Tories and Liberal Democrats are expected to vote against the Bill - while a hard core of Labour rebels were today digging in their heels against the legislation.