Lords defeat for ID cards scheme

Shepway Lib Dem Treasurer and no2id campaigner Darren Briddock welcomed the defeat in the house of lords of the governments controversial ID Card Bill.

"Their lordships have defeated the bill because the government has not costed the scheme properly, how new labour thinks they can introduce this unfair legislation without proper costing's is unbelievable" said Darren.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Lord Phillips of Sudbury said it would be "constitutionally wrong" not to insist on a full estimate of the costs across government. "At the moment we are being offered a pig-in-a-poke; the cart before the horse," he said.

The Home Office estimates the scheme will cost about £584m to run each year, with each combined biometric passport and identity card costing £93. But it has not given full cost estimates for setting up the scheme and says its overall costs will depend on how government departments choose to use the card scheme.

In a new report, the LSE sticks by its claims that the scheme would cost between £10bn and £19bn over 10 years if the government followed its original plans.