The government has dropped plans to make ID cards compulsory, it emerged yesterday.

Home secretary Alan Johnson announced that the government would no longer proceed with plans to require airside staff at Manchester and London City airports to carry the cards in a test scheme.

“Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens – just as it is now to obtain a passport,” Johnson said.

The Home Office’s original intention was that the cards would become compulsory once 80 per cent of the UK population possessed one.

Ministers have in the past stressed the benefits of ID cards in fighting terrorism, but Johnson yesterday acknowledged that they would not be a “panacea” in relation to national security.

But the Conservatives, who have promised to scrap the entire ID card project if elected, accused the government of an “absurd fudge” in keeping the scheme open without compulsion.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the decisions illustrated that the government was in chaos. “They have spent millions on the scheme so far – the home secretary thinks it has been a waste and wants to scrap it but the prime minister won’t let him,” Grayling said.