CABINET ministers are expected to call a truce over identity cards this week by agreeing to include the measure in the Queen’s speech in the form of a draft bill.

Tony Blair, who says he is in favour of introducing the cards “in principle”, is determined to keep the option open.

The move will be agreed at a meeting in the Commons of the cabinet’s domestic affairs committee on Tuesday, chaired by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister. But it is almost certain that the cards will not be introduced until after the next general election, if at all.

Ministers who are against the scheme will demand that a tough series of feasibility studies be undertaken before the system can be introduced.

The move to include a draft bill in the Queen’s speech will be seen as a fig leaf for David Blunkett, the home seceretary, who has been fighting for ID cards despite a concerted campaign by his colleagues to block the move.

Blunkett’s plans to charge people £40 for the compulsory cards were leaked to The Sunday Times, as were private letters from Jack Straw and Gordon Brown objecting to the scheme. Straw said the plan was “flawed” and would cause “a large-scale debacle which harms the government”.

The Treasury tried to scupper the plan by claiming that the charge would have to be counted by the Office for National Statistics as a new tax.

However, within days of The Sunday Times publishing the letter, the prime minister had defended the plan at question time in the Commons, saying he was in favour in principle.

Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, has protested about the scheme, pointing out that since passports and driving licences are to be upgraded in the near future there is no need for a separate ID card.

Many other countries have ID cards, including 11 out of the 15 European Union member states. Blunkett floated the idea after September 11 as a means of combating terrorism, then launched a public consultation exercise which showed strong support.

The row over ID cards reflects a similar dispute over the euro. Again Straw sided with the sceptical chancellor, who ruled in June that Britain was not ready to join the single currency. But to appease Blair, who is determined to keep the option of joining in this parliament, Brown agreed that a draft euro bill could be included in this year’s legislative programe. Again the move was largely seen as an olive branch to the pro-Europeans.

The rest of the Queen’s speech, which contains 23 bills, includes plans to bring in child trust funds. There are also proposals for tougher rules on asylum, the introduction of higher university fees after the next general election and the abolition of the remaining hereditary peers.

Other bills will cover child protection and plans to make companies more socially and environmentally responsible.

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