By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
All British citizens will be signed up to a national ID scheme within 10 years under plans outlined by the Government today.
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Millions of people in sensitive jobs, including teachers, carers and health workers will be among the first to be entered onto the identity register.    
Gordon Brown is thought to be less enthusiastic about ID cards than his predecessor Tony Blair
Up to 100,000 airport staff will be issued with unique personal identity number starting later this year in a bid to kick-start the multi-billion pound project.
Foreign nationals working in Britain will be issued with cards over the next two years. From 2010 young people will be able to get an identity card if they choose.
Later that year the scheme will be opened to voluntary applicants of any age. From 2011 - after the next general election - anyone applying for a new passport will automatically be fingerprinted and their personal details logged on the database.
In one change from original plans, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said it will be possible to decline the card itself and rely upon a passport as an identity document.
advertisementMiss Smith said the aim of the timetable was to make coverage of the population "universal" by 2017.
Either at that point, or earlier, there will be a vote in parliament to cover the rest of the population still not on the register.
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Miss Smith said there would be greater involvement for the private sector in delivering the scheme. There would also be a "consumer-driven roll-out" of the project to try to encourage more people to join the scheme voluntarily.
As a result, Miss Smith said the Home Office could scale back the projected £5.4bn cost by around £1bn. It will cost about £100 for a passport but a stand-alone ID card would be about £30.
The Tories have promised to scrap the scheme if they take power after the next election, likely in 2010. By then, only foreign nationals and key security staff are likely to be on the register.
Shami Chakrabarti, director for Liberty said: "Yet another re-launch of the ID scheme looks suspiciously like a new sales pitch for the same bad product.
"The message plays on fears of immigration, concerns about airport security and sentimentality about proud 18 year-olds’ buying their first beer!
"ID cards remain disastrous for our purses, privacy and race relations. A slow soft sell won’t change this thoroughly bad idea."

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