HUNDREDS of Lancashire people have been left in uncertainty after controversial ID cards were scrapped by the new coalition government.

The £5billion national identity card scheme has been consigned to the scrap heap by the new Conservative and Lib Dem coalition government, the Home Office confirmed.

It means that around 1,000 people who signed up for the £30 cards at Blackburn’s Identity and Passport Office, in Ainsworth Street, have now been left in uncertainty.

Official guidance is that anyone holding a card can still use it for identification, banking and travel within Europe.

But the Identity and Passport Service urged anyone considering an application to wait for further announcements.

A spokesman said: “Both parties that now form the new government stated in their manifestos that they will cancel identity cards and the National Identity Register.

"We will announce in due course how this will be achieved.

"Until Parliament agrees otherwise, identity cards remain valid and, as such, can still be used as an identity document and for travel within Europe.”

Senior ministers must now choose how to withdraw several thousand cards already in circulation after individuals paid £30 and handed over personal details.

The majority have been handed to foreign nationals, but people in the North West were also able to apply.

It is not thought the move will result in job losses at the Blackburn centre because the Identity and Passport Service was using its current resources to run identity card enrolment.

Coun Suleman Khonat became the first person to enrol his fingerprint biometrics for the card in Blackburn last year.

He said: “It is a shame because they helped people against identity theft and fraud.

"I was in favour of them.”