Students must have ID cards before they can obtain loans for university, Charles Clarke will tell MPs today.

The education secretary will tell a select committee investigating the cards that students in further and higher education will not receive grants unless they possess a card.

Clarke is thought to be one of the few Cabinet members fully behind David Blunkett in pressing his plans forward.

The draft Bill unveiled yesterday by the home secretary could make it compulsory for everyone in Britain aged 16 and over to carry a biometric ID card by 2013.

"It wouldn't have solved Madrid, but it will make a contribution - as it will to protecting our public services," he said.