Reid accused of 'burying bad news' on release of ID card costs

John Reid was accused of spin after a report on the soaring bill for ID cards was delayed until the day of Tony Blair's resignation.

Figures published by the Home Secretary yesterday disclosed that the cost of the controversial scheme had risen by £840m in just six months.

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Ministers were legally obliged to produce the statistics in early April, but put off publication for more than four weeks. The delay brought accusations from opposition parties and anti-ID card campaigners that the Government was trying to, "bury bad news".

Last October ministers calculated the flagship policy would cost £4.91bn over the next 10 years. In a new forecast that should have been released to Parliament on 9 April, the Home Office revised the cost yesterday to £5.75bn.

The Home Office said the delay was "not significant" and denied that the report had been postponed because of last week's council elections. But David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "It's no surprise the Home Office has broken the law in delaying the publication of this report until a day like today.

"The public will see through this transparent and pathetic attempt to bury bad news."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "It's bad enough the Government seeks to bury bad news behind the camouflage of Tony Blair's announcement. Breaking the law to do so breaks new ground even for Tony Blair's Labour Party."

The cost of launching ID cards, which are due to be issued to foreign nationals from next year and to Britons from 2009, has risen because extra staff will be hired to combat fraud.

The new estimate puts the cards' cost at £5.55bn from 2007 to 2017. There will be a further expense of £200m from requiring non-Europeans who apply to extend their stay to obtain biometric identity documents.

The Government has also conceded that a further £510m cost will be borne by the Foreign Office from running consular services abroad. But its figures still fall far short of calculations by academics which suggest that the eventual price of the ID card scheme could be close to £20bn.

Ministers have predicted that the cost to the public of a combined biometric passport and ID card could be about £93, but the additional expenses now being incurred by the Government could push the final price above £100.

Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of NO2ID, said: "With each new analysis, the cost of the ID card scheme spirals. In effect, this report says that the total cost to British citizens has gone up by over a billion pounds in six months. Brazenly claiming credit for work already done, and smoke and mirrors accounting, shows not only contempt for Parliament but contempt for the facts."

In the Commons, the Tories seized on reports that Gordon Brown does not share the enthusiasm of Mr Blair and Mr Reid for the scheme. They pointed to a Commons answer from Stephen Timms, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, which disclosed that the Chancellor had yet to approve the planned spending on identity cards.

But Mr Timms told MPs yesterday that the procedure was, "precisely the same" as for other major projects. He said: "Before substantive procurement begins, Treasury approval needs to be given - and it will be."

A Home Office spokes-man said: "The national identity scheme will be a crucial part of key national infrastructure, allowing individuals, business, and the state to prove identity more securely, conveniently and efficiently.

"Quite simply, failing to begin implementation now will put the UK at a serious disadvantage in the future."

Reports they wanted to disappear

* The Department for Work and Pensions announced the closure of three debt centres with the loss of 380 jobs. They are in Makerfield in Greater Manchester, Lawnswood in Leeds and Edinburgh. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: "It is scandalous this has been slipped out when all eyes are on the departure of Tony Blair."

* The number of under-16s whose genetic information has been added to the national DNA database has passed 500,000, the Home Secretary disclosed.

* Patients are still being treated on mixed-sex wards in nearly 20 per cent of hospital trusts, 10 years after the Government promised to abolish the controversial practice. The Department of Health set up an inquiry into the issue six months ago and chose to publish its findings yesterday.

* Record numbers of people were declared bankrupt in the first three months of 2007, suggesting the UK faces a, "debt crisis". The Insolvency Service released the figures last Friday morning when TV and radio broadcasts were dominated by the results of local elections.