SCOTLAND Yard’s hunt for Madeleine McCann is to cost taxpayers almost £2million for less than a year’s work. 

The huge bill for 30 detectives’ wages, their expenses and translations has been racked up since David Cameron drafted in the Met last May. 

The Prime Minister called in murder squad detectives after emotional pleas from Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann. 

But Labour peer Lord Harris, 58, said it raises “very big questions” about use of public cash, and added: “There is clearly an issue about resources.” 

Critics have blasted Operation Grange for diverting cash from other crime victims.  

Officers have made at least four trips to Portugal and Spain. The Met has already claimed £800,000 from the Home Office.  

But Scotland Yard said the figure is expected to hit £1.9m by the end of the financial year. 

A spokesman for Maddie’s parents said: “They have always been very appreciative of the time and resources that the British police and Home Office have committed to the search for Madeleine. 

“They are grateful that the review is ongoing.”

The cash already used comes from a £3.5m Government grant to the force, set up last May to cover travel costs. 

Madeleine disappeared from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007 at the age of three. 

But insiders claim the investigation will take years and cost a lot more than £3.5m. A source said the task is “enormous” because it involves the examination of thousands of documents requested from Portuguese authorities. 

The official police inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance was shelved in July 2008 but private detectives employed by the McCanns continued the search. 

Detectives have spent months reading case material that had to be translated into English. 

In December officers met Spanish colleagues to check on new reports that Madeleine had been abducted and smuggled over the border. 

Private investigators in Spain also handed the Metropolitan Police team 30 boxes of evidence with up to eight “important new leads”. 

Kate and Gerry, both 43, published a book last year which they hope will boost funds to continue the probe. 

aaron.tinney@dailystar.co.uk