A mass roll-out of live facial recognition cameras in cities, towns and even villages is planned with police given access to passport and driving licence photographs after successful trials in London .

The Metropolitan Police made 1,300 arrests using the technology over the last two years and found more than 100 registered sex offenders breaching their licence conditions.

Ministers are seeking to ramp up its use and launched a 10-week consultation despite fears of a “Big Brother Britain”.

Detectives will be able to search the passport database containing records of 45 million Britons and their immigration status, plus Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency photographs of 53m motorists.

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