Thing is a bit later on in the Beeb’s article is says this:
“The latest cost estimates come from a report compiled for the Home Office by accountancy firm KPMG, which also suggested ministers look again at some of their cost assumptions.”
Which sounds very much like what KPMG are actually saying is…
“Yeah, it’ll cost £30 if we take the Home Office’s figures as gospel but we’re certainly not sure that those figures are kosher” – or to put it another way, ID cards will cost a guaranteed £30 for as long as it takes for the bill to clear Parliament, shortly after which we’ll find that they have been some ‘unexpected cost over-runs’ and ‘delays in implementation’ plus ‘some new European standards which create complience issues which require technical revisions to the system”…
…all which will mean the cost will have to go up but, crucially, it won’t be the government’s fault.
Pull the other one, Safety Elephant, its got a fat consultancy cheque on it.