WORKERS at Manchester Airport will be used to test the new national ID cards.

An 18-month pilot of the controversial scheme will begin next October and see all new employees who work in `airside' areas issued with the cards.

Airport bosses hope that all 20,000 people who work beyond the security barriers will have the cards by 2011.

Currently, anyone who works `airside' at any British airport is required to obtain a security pass, which involves a stringent series of personal history and criminal records checks. The checks must be repeated every three years.

But the ID cards include biometric details such as fingerprints and facial geometry and are linked to a national computer database.

The government will fund the £30 cards for workers at all 300 businesses at Manchester Airport during the pilot, which is also taking place at London City Airport.

Phil Booth, from pressure group NO2ID, said: "There was widespread resistance from practically everyone in the aviation industry and the unions when it was suggested earlier this year that all 200,000 airside workers at airports across Britain should be included in the pilot. What has to be asked is, why Manchester? Who has crumbled up there?

"Every time someone uses one of these cards it will be logged on the system, so they are signing up to life-long surveillance."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is expected to unveil plans for the pilot in a keynote speech later today.

Ms Smith will also invite private firms, including Royal Mail, to bid for contracts to fingerprint millions of people for the new cards.

Unite national officer Brian Boyd said: "We will monitor the pilot scheme to ensure the concerns and anomalies we have already identified are resolved during the initial period."

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