Labour scraps plans for compulsory digital ID...

[dutchman]

Migrants will no longer need to show identity cards to prove right to work following latest about-turn



Labour has abandoned plans for compulsory digital ID for workers despite previously insisting that it was key to tackling illegal immigration.

Migrants will no longer be forced to show virtual identity cards to prove their right to work under the proposals. All other parts of the scheme, due to be introduced in 2029, are already set to be voluntary.

It represents Labour’s 10th about-turn since entering office. In September, Sir Keir Starmer promised that migrants would “not be able to work in the United Kingdom” if they did not have digital ID.

In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has backtracked on plans to raise business rates for hospitality firms and watered down his inheritance tax raid on farms.

Last year, ministers abandoned planned cuts to personal independence payments and the winter fuel allowance.

Earlier on Tuesday, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said the Government’s New Year’s resolution should be to get things right “first time”.

Ministers will now not make digital ID mandatory for right to work checks when the scheme is first introduced, but could instead bring it in further down the line.

A source said there would be “mandatory digital checks” for a right to work, as the current paper-based system was more open to abuse, but that did not necessarily mean bringing in a compulsory digital ID card.

A Government source told The Times that the compulsory element “was stopping conversation about what digital IDs could be used for generally”.

The source 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.”

A Government spokesman told The Telegraph that ministers had “always been clear that details on the digital ID scheme will be set out following a full public consultation, which will launch shortly”.

Last week, it emerged that ministers had been ordered to find savings in their departments to fund the scheme, which the Office for Budget Responsibility calculated would cost £1.8bn. The Government rejected the estimate.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, did not agree to fund the scheme in her latest Spending Review, so ministers have been asked to contribute and pay for it out of existing budgets.

The proposal to drop the mandatory requirement is a major blow to the Government’s promotion of the scheme, which was lauded as a key tool in tackling illegal immigration.

When he unveiled the plans, the Prime Minister said: “I know working people are worried about the level of illegal migration into this country. A secure border and controlled migration are reasonable demands, and this Government is listening and delivering.”

ID cards, which were first proposed under Sir Tony Blair, have become increasingly unpopular since the latest proposals were unveiled by the Prime Minister last year. Polling showed net support for the policy falling from 35 per cent in the early summer to -14 per cent the weekend after it was announced.

Mike Wood, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, added: “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.”

The Liberal Democrats also welcomed the change, but said “No 10 must be bulk ordering motion sickness tablets at this rate to cope with all their U-turns”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/01/13/labour-scraps-plans-for-compulsory-digital-id-u-turn-uk/