The UK’s identity cards scheme will cost more than £5.5bn to set up and run over the next 10 years, according to the government.

The cost of providing ePassports and ID cards to UK citizens for the period between April 2007 and April 2017 is estimated to be £5.55bn, according to the government’s Identity Cards Scheme Cost Report May 2007.

At least every six months, the government is required to give parliament an estimate of the public cost likely to be incurred by the ID cards scheme over the following 10 years.

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