PMQs live: Starmer branded ‘shambolic’ over another U-turn on plans for digital IDs – UK Times

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke has more below:

Sir Tony Blair’s think tank has called removing mandatory digital ID from right-to-work checks “a change in approach, not a change in direction”.

Sir Tony himself tried to introduce mandatory ID cards during his time in Downing Street but was forced to water down the policy to a voluntary scheme that was then scrapped by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.

Ryan Wain, executive director of policy and politics at the Tony Blair Institute For Global Change, said: “Removing mandatory digital ID from right-to-work checks is a change in approach, not a change in direction.”

He added digital identity remains “essential” to helping public services operate more seamlessly.

“The real test isn’t whether people are forced to use it, but whether it’s good enough that they choose to,” he continued. “People who can pay for more personalised and preventative services already get them. Government should be aiming to make that the standard, not the exception.

“If digital ID makes everyday interactions with the state easier, faster and more personalised, people will choose it. Getting the design and rollout right is how you build public trust, and it’s the foundation for genuinely modernising public services.”

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel has slammed the government as “shambolic” over its decision to backtrack on mandatory digital IDs.

She told the Press Association: “Of course, Keir Starmer’s feeble justification for digital ID was that it would stop the small boats, so clearly he was making it up as he goes along.

“This was a failed project from the outset, and the Government should hold its head in shame really, that it even proposed such a spurious scheme in the first place.”

The government has now climbed down from its plans to make digital ID cards mandatory for anyone working in the UK.

But it says it is still determined to introduce digital ID as one of a number of ways workers could prove their identities.

You can read some of our previous coverage on how digital ID cards would work below:

In September, prime minister Keir Starmer announced plans to introduce a digital ID system in 2029.

At the time, he said the system would be mandatory for people working in the UK as part of a bid to tackle illegal migration.

The plans faced huge criticism over privacy concerns, with Conservative former minister Sir David Davis calling them “profoundly dangerous to the privacy and fundamental freedoms of the British people”.

On Tuesday, the government said it would still be introducing digital ID cards – but that using the identification form would not be mandatory for those working in the UK.

A government source told The Times the compulsory element of the scheme had been “stopping conversation about what digital IDs could be used for generally”.

The transport secretary has said digital right-to-work checks will be mandatory but that a digital ID or “another form of digital documentation” will be accepted.

Heidi Alexander appeared to confirm that digital ID will no longer be mandatory for right-to-work checks, as was set out by Sir Keir Starmer when he announced the flagship policy last year.

She told Times Radio: “We will still have digital ID. We will still have mandatory digital right-to-work checks. The form of digital ID … the nature of the material that is presented could be either the digital ID on somebody’s phone … or it could be another form of digital documentation which contains proof of your right to work.”

She said the government was committed to introducing to digital IDs.

Asked if they would be compulsory, Ms Alexander said: “We are committed to having mandatory digital right-to-work checks.”

Pressed further, she said: “You say this is some sort of massive U-turn – we said we would have digital checks on people for right to work, that is what we are continuing to do.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Rachel Reeves played down the impact of a U-turn on digital ID, saying the government is “pretty relaxed” about what form of digital documentation people use to prove their right to work.

The chancellor told BBC Breakfast: “On the digital ID, for starters, I do think this story has been a bit overwritten.

“We are saying that you will need mandatory digital ID to be able to work in the UK.

“Now the difference is whether that has to be one piece of ID, a digital ID card, or whether it could be an e-visa or an e-passport, and we’re pretty relaxed about what form that takes.”

She added that she doesn’t think “most people mind whether it is one piece of digital ID or a form of digital ID that can be verified.

Asked whether constant U-turns damages public confidence, she said: “The key thing is where you’re trying to go. Our government, this government, our focus is on growing the economy and improving living standards for working people.”

But the plans were thrown into confusion on Tuesday night after it was reported that ministers were rowing back on the compulsory element, allowing other digital documents to be used for right-to-work check.

A Labour peer has said said he was “disappointed but not surprised” the U-turn, which he said is a result “failure to be able to annunciate why this policy mattered”.

“I’m not surprised because the original announcement was not followed by a narrative or supportive statements or any kind of strategic plan which involves other ministers and those who are committed to this actually making the case,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

“As a consequence those who are opposed to this scheme for all kinds of nefarious and very different reasons, some of them inexplicable were able to mobilise public opinion to get the online opposition to it up and running.

“So very sadly, it’s an indication of failure to be able to annunciate why this policy mattered. To be able to follow through with the detail of how it would work and then to reinforce that by a plan and communication of action

.“And when you fail to do all of those things, it’s not surprising in the end that the thing runs into the sand.”