Amazon is courting controversy with plans to store biometric data belonging to millions of Britons as part of a £300m Home Office contract to combine its police and immigration biometric databases.

The proposed one-stop-shop for all fingerprints, facial matching and DNA information is intended to improve the efficiency of law enforcement and immigration officials, with Amazon reportedly first in line to pick up the valuable 10-year long contract.

The Telegraph suggests that suppliers are being encouraged to embrace Amazon’s cloud business despite rival bids still officially remaining in the frame from the likes of IBM, Leidos and DXC Technology.

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A spokesman for Amazon Web Services said: “When customers, including the UK Government, use AWS they always own their data, and it does not move without their consent.”

Amazon’s cloud business has taken off in recent years with an expectation that further growth will boost its value to $15bn by 2021.