Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told the House of Commons: "People should be assured that they will get their passports for holidays."

John Prescott: "People will get their passports"

He said queues were getting shorter and insisted no one was in danger of losing their job over the issue.

"As the home secretary has made clear, they are working around the clock and at weekends to clear it," he said.

Shadow Leader of the House Sir George Young: "When is the government going to start working round the clock?"

"I would have thought that achieving 99.9% is quite a record of clearing passports in time for people to go on holidays."

A bride who feared she would not get her passport in time for her honeymoon on Saturday has had a new one delivered to her by courier after Jack Straw said "heaven and earth" would be moved to help her.

Sharon Gowan, 31, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, will now be able to fly to Majorca with husband Paul Gowan, 35, to start their £2,500 cruise as planned.

"It is absolutely fantastic," she said. "We have cracked open a bottle of champagne."

Tension in queues

On Wednesday evening there was still a four-hour queue at the Glasgow passport office, with would-be holidaymakers besieging other offices across the country.

Bribes and queue-jumping were reported as news spread that the backlog would not be cleared until the end of the summer holidays.

The BBC's Susan Dekker reports: "The queue just to get in to Petty France is once again snaking around the block"

Home Secretary Jack Straw said it would be September before the half a million or so outstanding applications were dealt with.

People waiting at the Petty France office in central London reported attempts to bribe those at the front of the queue to leave, queue-jumping, and fights breaking out.

Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien: "New child passport laws cause havoc"

Lara Grove, 22, from Northolt, west London, queued to obtain a new passport before a trip to Cyprus next Wednesday.

"People have been pushing in and getting aggressive and we haven't been able to do anything about it," she said.

Extra staff

About 100 staff are to be taken on in addition to the 300 already being recruited to deal with the backlog.

Some passports are being extended for two years instead of being renewed and the government is funding a £500,000 advertising campaign to inform people how to obtain their passports.

The agency is clearing almost 150,000 cases per week - 20% up on this time last year.

Shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe: "It's total confusion"

The delays have been caused by new computer technology introduced last October at the same time as new rules requiring children and babies to have their own passports.

The average waiting time for passports has risen from two weeks to seven, according to unions.