Security restrictions on liquids and laptops in airport hand luggage could be abolished in the United Kingdom next year.

The deployment of hi-tech 3D scanners means passengers no longer have to place liquids and creams into clear plastic bags for inspection at the departure gate.

The British government is on the verge of introducing the scanner inside two years.

The current rules have been in place since November 2006 in response to a terror threat after 9/11 where there was evidence extremists were planning to blow up planes in flight.

According to Times Radio, major UK airports have been given a deadline of mid-2024 to install more advanced scanners.

The technology has already been in use by US airports such as Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia, and O’Hare in Chicago for a number of years.

Government ministers have been carrying out a review with a formal announcement expected in the coming weeks.

Airport users who failt to observe the rules around liquids can cause delays at security.

The new technology has been trialled at London’s Heathrow airport since 2017.

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It enables security staff to zoom in on a bag’s contents and rotate the images for inspection.

Heathrow’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, told the Times: “We are slowly rolling them out.

“We have just started the expansion of the security area in Terminal 3 which will have more CT scanners and have a deadline of mid-2024 from the Department for Transport. By then the normal passenger experience will be that liquids stay in bags.”

The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said it was “off the back of some commentary from one of the bosses from an airport”.

He added on Sky News: “And I am afraid you’ll know our usual practice on security matters is we don’t comment on security matters. I think that is quite important.

“But at the moment the regime is as it is with the strict limits on the liquids people can take on planes.”