Government plans for national biometric identity cards are likely to go ahead despite the reduction in Labour's parliamentary majority from 167 to 67, say experts.

The controversial legislation was dropped when parliament was dissolved for the General Election, but the scheme is expected to be included in the Queen's speech on 17 May.

The original bill was passed by the Commons by 224 votes to 64, despite blanket opposition by the Liberal Democrats and rebellion by 19 Labour and 11 Tory MPs.

There is likely to be a more rigorous debate this time, with possible concessions over civil liberties issues, says Eric Woods, government practice director at analyst Ovum. He says the IT industry has major concerns over the scheme's technical design.

'IT programmes must have clear objectives - the multiple objectives laid out for ID cards makes it difficult,' he said.

One possibility is for a broader identification and authentication scheme, says Philip Virgo, strategic adviser for user group the Institute for the Management of Information Systems (Imis).

'Because of the reservations about the details of the scheme, the legislation is likely to be based around the principles of looking after identity data held in the public sector,' he said.