The Cabinet has reached a compromise on the introduction of a national identity card scheme.

An agreement will see "incremental steps to build a base" for a national scheme.

But a decision on whether to make the cards compulsory will be left until later in the decade.

Senior ministers are thought to have been deeply divided over the issue, and the deal is seen as a way to patch over the splits.

David Blunkett, the home secretary, said: "The prime minister and I have convinced our colleagues that we will need biometric identifiers.

"That can only be done by phasing it incrementally because you could not possibly in anyone's dreams have 60 million people suddenly brought on to a scheme."