The first UK ID cards have already been issued - but UK authorities have no way of reading the data stored on them.

An FoI request by Silicon.com revealed that no police stations, border entry points or job centres have readers in place for the card’s biometric chip.

Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton told silicon.com:

“If this capability is not there then the biometrics are, in short, a waste of time.

“I would have thought that the government would have tried to get the readers rolled out as soon as possible as it is only when you get serious deployments that you start to learn what can go wrong.”