THE Government showed breathtaking contempt for the law and the public as it attempted to bury the bad news of spiralling costs of the ID cards project on the day that Tony Blair announced his resignation.

The announcement was slipped out more than a month past the legally binding deadline when the Government should have issued the new figures - not surprising given that it revealed that costs have risen by no less than £640m in the last six months.

Even the most hardened supporters of ID cards must now accept that public resistance to such a wasteful, intrusive and unnecessary project is set to harden significantly as the excessive cost to taxpayers becomes more apparent.

As a former teacher I watched several attempts to pin schoolchildren down by means of "identity cards" to what we teachers regarded as a proper routine. In less than a week any rogues (or libertyloving youngsters) among our charges cracked whatever system we devised.

It is the job of politicians to sense what is sensible. Compulsory ID cards are just not sensible and, what is more, they are ridiculously expensive.

Peter Wilson, Barnard Castle, Co Durham.