Conservative Party plans to build new prisons

A massive prison building programme could be launched if the Tories gain power at the next election.

The expansion would cost around £15bn but the party believes this could be raised by scrapping the identity card scheme, due to brought in from 2008.

The Conservative plan came as the Chief Inspector of Prisons warned that there are less than 1,800 places left in the system and that some prisons are coming close to putting up "house full" notices.

The party thinks pressures on the system could be alleviated by building new jails. However, a spokeswoman said that no definite spending commitments had yet been made.

She said: "Building more prisons is certainly something we're looking at. We recognise that prison places need to be expanded."

She confirmed: "One option for funding would be re-directing the money that would be spent on identity cards but there are no spending commitments at this time – they will be made closer to the next general election."