The cost of a passport will more than double to £93 when compulsory ID cards are introduced from 2007, according to a new government estimate.

Home Office documents confirmed the previous best guess of £88 had not included VAT and other extras.

As the Identity Card Bill was republished after it fell at the end of the last Parliament, the average annual running cost for issuing the controversial cards alongside passports was put at £584 million.

Under the terms of the controversial Bill, all British citizens will have to pay for a biometric card - which will hold personal information such as fingerprint records and iris scans - when applying for a new or renewed passport.

Ministers will also reveal today how 10,000 volunteers responded to the Passport Service’s pilot scheme to gather biometric details.

A report was expected to reveal how long it took to complete the procedure for each person - a vital detail in light of the need to carry it out for all 50 million British adults if the ID card project goes ahead.

The Government, which had earlier used the fear of terrorism and illegal immigration to justify the £3 billion cost of the ID card scheme, was today shifting focus, saying that the cards were an essential tool in the fight against spiralling identity theft.

According to police figures, annual cases of ID fraud, in which a stolen utility bill can be used to extract thousands of pounds from an individual’s bank account, have risen sixfold to 126,000 since 1999.

However, critics say that the legislation, which would also make it an offence carrying a maximum ten-year jail sentence to carry false documents, poses a serious threat to civil liberties.

The Prime Minister gave warning that identity theft is costing the country billions of pounds a year as he urged MPs to back new plans to introduce ID cards.

He told the Commons: "The abuse of identity actually costs this country billions of pounds a year.

"We have the new biometric technology. We have in any event to move to new biometric passports as a part of other changes happening around the world.

"This is an important moment where we decide that we legislate so that we can enable identity cards to be taken forward."

The re-directed emphasis on ID fraud today reflects the deep unease among ministers over their prospects of getting the Bill through Parliament in the face of opposition from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour backbench rebels.

The proposals are likely to be the first significant test of Labour’s reduced majority, and could lead ministers to offer concessions to avoid a defeat in the Commons.

Charles Clarke acknowledged yesterday that there were serious doubts among Labour MPs over the scheme - 19 voted against when it was debated before the general election - and he urged MPs to study the safeguards in the legislation and promised to hold talks with them.

The Home Secretary was also reported to be considering strengthening the powers of an ID card commissioner to oversee the scheme. He may also bring in measures to further limit government agencies’ access to the National Identity Register - a database holding the details of every card-holder in the country.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary and front-runner to be the next Tory leader, has indicated that he will oppose a measure which he regards as both impractical and expensive.

The Tories voted in favour of the legislation when it received its second reading before the general election, abstained on a third reading and voted against when the Bill came back from the Lords.

Mr Davis said: "On an issue of this importance, one that represents such a fundamental change in the relationship between the citizen and the state, the Government must make the case and conclusively prove the need for such a change.

"At present they have not done so and until they do so I cannot recommend that my party supports these proposals."

Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, urged Conservatives to join forces with Lib Dems and Labour rebels to defeat the proposals, saying that his party remained sceptical about their cost and efficiency.

A survey of 1,000 people yesterday revealed that the plans were backed by five out of 10 people as the best way to combat ID fraud. A MORI poll in April put the figure at 80 per cent in favour.

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