The row over the cost of ID cards escalated last week, with claims that the huge difference between government figures and higher estimates from the London School of Economics (LSE) could fall on local authorities.

Home Office minister Andy Burnham last week stated the LSE had admitted its £10.6bn to £19.2bn estimate was wrong. But professor Ian Angell of the LSE denied this, and said discrepancies could be explained by the fact that the government’s £5.8bn estimate only includes costs to the Home Office, while the LSE totalled costs across the wider public sector.

“Local authorities [and other agencies] have not woken up to the fact they will make up the difference,” he said. But Burnham said departments and local authorities will be free to decide whether to use ID cards.