Plans to scrap ID cards revealed

Home Secretary Theresa May is to set out further details of the Government's plans to scrap the £5 billion ID cards scheme.

The Home Office is publishing the Identity Documents Bill - announced in the Queen's speech on Tuesday - which will abolish identity cards and destroy all personal information gathered for the National Identity Register.

Getting rid of the ID card system, introduced under Labour, was a manifesto pledge of both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Identity cards will be scrapped within one month of the Bill receiving Royal Assent and cardholders, who paid £30 each for a card, will not get a refund.

The identity card bonfire is estimated to save £86 million over four years once inevitably sizeable cancellation costs are taken into account.

A further £800 million in ongoing costs are anticipated to be saved over the next decade. The previous government said these would be recovered through fees.

Identity cards were expected to cost £5 billion and axing them was a key manifesto commitment for both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

The majority have been handed to foreign nationals, but people in North West, young people in London and airport workers were also able to apply.

It remains to be seen how civil servants will disentangle the identity cards scheme from passports as many parts of the new scheme were to be shared.