|PIC1|Airport workers are expected to be the first to be given identity cards under plans to be announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Thursday.

Smith is due to give an update on the government's timetable for the roll out of the controversial cards in a speech to a London think tank.

Under original plans the cards were to be issued to British citizens applying for new passports from 2010.

But leaked documents have shown this date slipping to 2012 or beyond, well past the date of the next general election, due by 2010 at the latest.

Smith will also give more details on already announced plans to issue ID cards from the end of this year to foreigners planning to stay in Britain.

The Treasury will at the same time publish a long-awaited report on identity management by former banker James Crosby, commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in June 2006 when he was chancellor.

But no announcement is expected on procurement contracts for the 5.6 billion pounds scheme.

Five large technology companies - CSC, EDS, Fujitsu, IBM and Thales - are bidding to build the infrastructure for the cards and an underlying database of personal identity details.

The government says the cards will prevent identity theft, tackle illegal immigration, fight terrorism and make it easier for people to access public services like healthcare.

But civil rights groups and both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties say ID cards are unnecessary, expensive and an intrusion into private life.

The government is taking an incremental approach to the introduction of the cards, phasing the scheme in until most of the population are covered before passing laws to make them compulsory.

A Whitehall document leaked in January showed airport workers becoming the first to receive ID cards in 2009.

BAA, which runs most of the country's airports, says it has already had exploratory talks with the government on the proposal.

"BAA ... is prepared to have further talks with the government, airlines and other interested parties to further understand the implications of such a scheme," it said.

The cards are designed to be more secure by including a chip containing fingerprint data as well as an electronic copy of the holder's photo.

New passports - so called ePassports - already hold the holder's photo in digital form so they can be checked at borders.

But a delay to the introduction of passports containing fingerprints - because of the rollover of supplier contracts - has pushed back the date for the wider issue of ID cards.