The home secretary has won support for new hi-tech passports to combat fraud, terrorism and asylum abuse.

David Blunkett told G8 ministers that fingerprints and iris patterns should be encoded in passports in a bid to combat identity theft.

The "smart" passports would allow customs officials to link a person's identity to a biometric, such as an iris scan, facial recognition or a fingerprint.

Meeting in Paris, the interior ministers agreed to establish a working group to examine how new technology could be used to make passports more secure.

Whilst Britain is keen to press ahead with digital passports, the government has warned that international systems for biometric recognition are necessary for the system to be effective.

Trials are already underway in the UK and the Passport Agency hopes to include biometric chips in passports by 2005.

Blunkett also warned that tougher border controls would be required to halt immigration and terrorism.

At the meeting Britain, the US, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and Russia also examined ways to seize the assets from global organised crime and discussed tougher measures to tackle paedophilia.