The Cost of ID Cards So Far? More Than 150 Bobbies On The Beat - Opik

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 17th Aug 2006

The money spent on ID Cards so far could have paid for over 150 new police officers for 10 years, according to figures obtained by the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Lembit Öpik MP.

In an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Mr. Öpik, the Government revealed that they had spent £46.4m on the Identity Cards Scheme by May 2006.

Commenting, Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire, said:

"ID Cards will go down as one of the greatest mistakes made by this Labour Government.

"The money the Government has spent on the ID Cards scheme so far could have put over 150 new police officers on our streets for a decade. And that's just with the money they've spent SO FAR. This is real money wasted on an unworkable scheme which won't achieve what the Government claims.

"But this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the final price of this illiberal scheme. The final bill for ID Cards could reach a staggering £19 billion! This is an extraordinary and catastrophic waste of taxpayer's money.

"The main problem faced by our police is a lack of resources. Instead of throwing away public money on pointless plastic, the Government could be focusing on increasing effective measures which tackle the root causes of crime."

Ends/diwedd

Notes:

Figures above are calculated according to an average Police Officer recruitment wage of £25,000 and allow for an increase in wages over ten year period.

According to a study by a team at the London School of Economics the true cost of the ID Cards Scheme could be as much as £19 billion. See http://is2.lse.ac.uk/IDcard/identityreport.pdf

The full text of the parliamentary question and written answer is as follows:

Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Government has spent on developing the identity cars scheme to date; and if he will make a statement?

Joan Ryan (Under Secretary of State, Home Office): Since the start of the financial year 2003/2004, £46.4m has been spent in total on the Identity Cards Scheme up to the end of May 2006.