Home Secretary Charles Clarke has confirmed that controversial legislation to introduce ID cards has been shelved.

But he said the ID card bill would be included in the Labour Party's manifesto, published early next week, and would be an early priority for the next Parliament should Labour win the election.

Clarke blamed the Tories for the failure of the bill. He said their lack of support forced him to ditch the bill. The Tories rejected this and pointed out that the government chose how much legislation to include in the Queen's speech as well as the date of the General Election.®

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