Keir Starmer set to unveil digital ID scheme

Sir Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with the introduction of digital IDs, with an announcement expected as early as his party conference this month, as the British prime minister tries to show he has a credible plan to reduce illegal migration.

Officials said Starmer was determined to plough ahead with launching a digital ID scheme, despite Sir Tony Blair’s costly and failed attempt to roll out compulsory ID cards in the 2000s.

The announcement may come at Labour party conference later this month, according to two people briefed on the matter. They cautioned that the finer details of the scheme were still being ironed out and that the timeline could change.

One of the models being looked at would involve giving a digital ID to every person with a legal right to be in Britain — either through citizenship or legalised immigration status, according to one of the people.

The digital ID programme’s “efficacy depends on everyone having them”, they said, otherwise the government would have to contend with a combination of paper and digital systems.

The ID would probably be used for right-to-work checks and to determine whether a person was eligible for a home rental contract, they said. The government could yet opt to roll out the scheme to a more narrow group, or reconsider the plans further.

Ministers have publicly signalled support for digital ID in recent weeks, with Starmer saying earlier this month that the policy could “play an important part” in reducing the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for migrants to come to illegally.

He told the BBC that “we all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago”.

Polling by More in Common last year found that 53 per cent of the public were in favour of a digital identification system, and a fifth were against.

Former home secretary Yvette Cooper, who served as a minister in Blair’s government and was resistant to the idea of a universal digital ID scheme, was given a new role of foreign secretary earlier this month.

This year, she announced the nationwide rollout of e-visas to all overseas citizens to enable the government to conduct immigration status checks on immigrants.

Sceptics of the plan inside government said questions remained about what benefit a digital ID had over e-visas, which were already being used by immigration enforcement to check whether migrants have a right to be in the UK.

Another issue was whether digital ID would lead to health workers being required to check the immigration status of patients.

New home secretary Shabana Mahmood said earlier this month that “my long-term personal political view has always been in favour of ID cards”.

She added that she believed such a system could “help with illegal working enforcement” and “deal with the pull factors that are making the UK a destination of choice” for many migrants.

Earlier this year, former technology secretary Peter Kyle announced the creation of a new gov.uk app that will allow Britons to access thousands of public services on their smartphones.

He also announced that by the end of the year, the government would launch a new digital wallet that will allow people to hold driving licences and veteran ID cards on their smartphones.

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to using tech to make it easier for people to interact with the state, learning from other countries on how best to deliver this for citizens.”

They added: “We will look at any serious proposals that would help people access public services, including digital ID.”