Davis: 'ID cards in intensive care'

The identity card scheme was said to be in "intensive care" as leaked Whitehall documents showed it faced a new delay of two years.

The cards were set to be issued to Britons from 2010, when they apply to renew their passports, but private Home Office documents show the introduction is set to be put off until 2012.

The likely postponement follows a series of fiascos over the security of personal data held by the Government. Gordon Brown is also widely believed not to share the enthusiasm of his predecessor for the scheme.

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, who obtained the papers, said: "It is in the intensive care ward." He claimed the widespread introduction of the cards was being delayed to stop it becoming an issue at the next election, expected in 2009 or 2010.

Under the new Home Office timetable, ID cards will still be issued this year to foreign nationals and next year to UK nationals employed in "positions of trust", thought to include youth workers and teachers. But the mass roll-out will not take place for another three years.

A Home Office spokesman said the date for issuing cards with passports was "under consideration".