CABINET opponents of identity cards have succeeded in wresting concessions that could prevent them from becoming compulsory, leaked cabinet papers have revealed.

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is leading the bid to scupper plans by the Home Office to make it compulsory to carry a card. He and several colleagues have managed to put a triple block on the scheme ahead of its launch tomorrow.

First, it will never be mandatory to carry a card and, second, it will require a future vote in the Commons before police can require a member of the public to produce one.

Crucially, Straw has also secured a promise from David Blunkett, the home secretary, that nobody will ever be required to produce an ID card to obtain hospital treatment, welfare benefits and other public services.

Patricia Hewitt, the trade secretary, has also ensured that the same will apply to private sector services, such as banking.

This is a blow to Blunkett. An important part of his argument for ID cards is that they could prevent health tourism by foreigners and boost security.

The concessions are disclosed in a leaked letter sent by Straw last week to cabinet colleagues. The foreign secretary writes: “I welcome the proposal for a super affirmative process. I welcome the qualification that the production of an ID card will not be mandatory for access to public and private sector services unless compulsory cards have been approved for UK citizens.”

A further leaked letter from John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, refers to an agreement between ministers following “private conversations” between Blunkett, Straw and Hewitt.

Tomorrow Blunkett will publish a draft ID cards bill and the Home Office will begin a trial of ID cards, asking for 10,000 volunteers. Their biometric details will be taken as part of a large-scale test of the equipment.

The government is to make it a criminal offence to carry false identity papers. Anybody found with a forged passport, driving licence or other official ID will face up to 10 years in prison.

The inclusion of biometric details is expected to become compulsory for passports that are renewed or newly issued after 2007. Biometrics will later also be introduced into driving licences.

Ministers are due to decide whether to make ID cards compulsory for everybody by 2013, when 80% of the population is expected to have either a biometric passport or a driving licence. They hope this will lead MPs to accept the argument to go for a compulsory scheme.

It is estimated that ID fraud has almost tripled, from 35,000 cases in 2000 to 101,000 cases last year.

Lord Selborne, chairman of the Royal Society’s science in society committee, said yesterday that the public needed to “wake up” to the hidden dangers of identity cards. Technological advances will make it possible for ID cards to carry daily updates on people’s most personal details, he said.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Sacha Baron Cohen forced to tone down Brüno