think they've given up on that argument sean, no idea why, it was obviously workable. these days id cards are to help protect us from fraud and those nasty immos. Quick search, the beeb search, cost of fraud to the uk economy 2005 - ?16 billion. Cost of id cards 2005 - ?18bn. Cost of id cards later on in 2005 - ?30bn. Cost of id cards 2007 - ?5bn...which isn't really what I was hoping for, but I guess it suggests they haven't got a clue. And quite how they are going to prevent the ?16bn of fraud, I'm not really sure. Anyway, guess he shouldn't go, most of it's probably hangover from Browns watch. Still, not good news for him. Imagine Brown will want to keep him on s a) he's his mate, and b) he can blame him for the hard times and 'tough decisions' ahead.