The Prime Minister has abandoned his plans for mandatory digital ID cards to verify someone’s right to work in the UK.
The ID cards will now be optional when they are introduced in 2029, with workers given the choice of whether to use other documents to verify their identity instead.
A Government source told The Times that the compulsory element ‘was stopping conversation about what digital IDs could be used for generally’.
They said: ‘Stepping back from mandatory-use cases will deflate one of the main points of contention.
‘We do not want to risk there being cases of some 65-year-old in a rural area being barred from working because he hasn’t installed the ID.’
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Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: ‘While we welcome the scrapping of any mandatory identification, this is yet another humiliating U-turn from the government.
‘Keir Starmer’s spinelessness is becoming a pattern, not an exception.
‘What was sold as a tough measure to tackle illegal working is now set to become yet another costly, ill-thought-out experiment abandoned at the first sign of pressure from Labour’s backbenches.’
However, speaking to LBC, Home Office minister Mike Tapp has rejected the claims of scrapping plans for the mandatory IDs.
He told Tonight with Andrew Marr: ‘There’s a lot being discussed behind the scenes, but I’m very clear on this. There will be mandatory digital checks for work.’
Mr Tapp also said announcements will be made in due course.
Reform leader Nigel Farage took to X to share his thoughts on the U-turn, saying his political party would scrap digital IDs altogether.
The Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also posted on X, saying: ‘The Prime Minister is ‘turning the corner’…straight into another U-turn.
‘Good riddance. It was a terrible policy anyway.’
This latest U-turn is the 13th of this Labour Government and comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting told a conference today that ministers should aim to make the right decision the first time round.
Speaking at the Institute for Government conference in London, he said: ‘In the NHS, we have an initiative called Girft – get it right first time.
‘That should be our new year’s resolution for 2026 – let’s try and get it right first time.’
What are digital IDs?
Digital IDs would be stored on your mobile phone, with a similar technology to how payment cards are securely stored in an Apple or Google Wallet.
The digital ID would contain personal information, including your name, date of birth, nationality or residency status information and a photo.
The government previously said it wanted to roll out the digital IDs to help tackle employment fraud, making it easier to access benefits, rent, and apply for university.
Estonia, China, India, the US, Costa Rica, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE, Canada, Japan and Italy all have some form of digital ID available for their citizens.
The mandatory digital ID plans were roundly torn apart by MPs from a cross-section of the parties during a parliamentary debate last month.
Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘There’s a whole vein of thought across the country where people are feeling a quite reasonable sense of paranoia about the levels of surveillance under which they are under at the present time.’
Tory Robbie Moore, who opened the debate, described the measure as a ‘true honeypot for hackers all over the world.’
During the debate, a protestor who was screaming ‘the people will not comply’ was marched out by security.
It was not only MPs who criticised the plan for mandatory Digital IDs, as many members of the public were concerned about what the future would look like if the initiative went ahead.
A petition that demanded a halt to the initiative reached more than 3,000,000 signatures.
In December, protestors from Big Brother Watch, a UK civil liberties campaign group, marched around Parliament Square, wearing masks of Sir Keir Starmer’s face.
The group were fighting for a free future, determined to reclaim the public’s privacy and defend freedoms.
Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo posted on X shortly after the news of the U-turn.
She wrote: ‘WE’RE WINNING! We welcome Starmer’s reported U-turn on making intrusive, expensive and unnecessary digital IDs mandatory.
‘This is a HUGE success for Big Brother Watch and the millions of Brits who signed petitions to make this happen.
‘The case for the government now dropping digital IDs entirely is overwhelming.
‘Taxpayers should not be footing a £1.8bn bill for a digital ID scheme that is frankly pointless.’
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