Sir Keir Starmer is expected to unveil plans for a mandatory, UK-wide digital ID scheme in a speech scheduled for Friday.
According to senior government officials, the Prime Minister believes such a system would be instrumental in curbing illegal employment and modernizing state operations.
The specific implementation details of the scheme will be subject to a public consultation, addressing considerations for individuals lacking access to smartphones or passports.
Previous attempts by a Labour government to introduce physical ID cards were ultimately thwarted by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
However, Sir Keir stated earlier this month that he believes the public discourse on digital identification has “moved on” since that prior attempt.
“We all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago, and I think that psychologically, it plays a different part,” he commented.
Reports indicate that the government envisions the scheme as a means to verify individuals’ right to reside and work in the UK, cross-referencing ID information against a centralized database.
Currently, such verification relies on physical documentation, although online verification pathways have been available for certain individuals since 2022.
While the proposal was absent from Labour’s most recent election manifesto, the government has previously dismissed a digital ID proposal put forth by former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.
Ministers have expressed increasing enthusiasm for the concept in recent weeks, coinciding with mounting pressure to address illegal immigration.
Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden has also highlighted the potential for such a system to streamline access to government services.
He recently visited Estonia, a nation where digital identity facilitates access to services ranging from medical records to voting and banking.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch asserted that implementing mandatory ID would constitute a “very serious step that requires a proper national debate.”
She criticized the government’s announcement as a “desperate gimmick” intended to divert attention from the “leadership maneuvers” of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham ahead of Labour’s upcoming annual conference.
Ms. Badenoch has previously stated her belief that digital ID is “not really going to solve the problem” of illegal employment within the UK.
Reform UK has condemned the plan as a “cynical ploy to fool voters that something is being done about illegal immigration.”
“It’s laughable that those already breaking immigration law will suddenly comply, or that digital IDs will have any impact on illegal work,” the party added.
“All it will do is impinge further on the freedoms of law-abiding Brits.”
The Liberal Democrats, who played a key role in blocking the prior Labour government’s ID card initiative, have stated that they “cannot support” a mandatory scheme.
“People shouldn’t be turned into criminals just because they can’t have a digital ID, or choose not to,” added technology spokesperson Victoria Collins.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is slated to launch a new left-wing party in the coming weeks, voiced his opposition to a compulsory scheme, labeling it an “affront to our civil liberties.”
Employers are already mandated to verify the right to work of prospective employees in the UK.
Since 2022, they have been able to conduct checks on passport-holding British and Irish citizens through government-certified digital verification services.
The Home Office also maintains an online system to verify the status of certain non-British or Irish citizens whose immigration status is digitally recorded.
The government has also been phasing out physical permits for foreign residents in favor of online-only eVisas.
It is understood that officials have been exploring whether mandatory digital ID could offer a more standardized approach to identity verification.
They are also believed to be examining whether the scheme could curtail the use of fraudulent documents and facilitate more effective targeted enforcement.
Open Rights Group, a civil liberties advocacy organization, has noted that the rollout of eVisas has been affected by data inaccuracies and system failures.
The group further cautioned that the government’s proposals risk creating a “pre-crime state where we constantly have to prove who we are as we go about our daily lives.”
In the same address on Friday, the Prime Minister is expected to address tensions surrounding immigration, which have manifested in protests outside asylum hotels during the summer months.
Addressing other world leaders, including the prime ministers of Australia and Canada, he will set out a choice between a “politics of predatory grievance, preying on the problems of working people” and “the politics of patriotic renewal”.
He will warn of the toxicity of online debate – whose “most poisonous belief [was] on full display at the protests here in London, just a week or two ago, that there is a coming struggle, a defining struggle, a violent struggle, for the nation. For all our nations.”
Up to 150,000 people took part in a march organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson in the capital earlier this month, where many carried union jacks and St George’s flags.
Simultaneously, Starmer will defend his government’s actions to curb immigration, asserting that “for too many years it’s been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally.”
He will argue that “it is not compassionate left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages.”
“The simple fact is that every nation needs to have control over its borders.”
Writing in the Telegraph ahead of the speech, Starmer said that “for years left-wing parties, including my own, did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration,” without singling out any previous Labour leader for criticism.
But he also rejected Reform’s “toxic approach” to the situation, writing that their “simple slogans… will not do anything to resolve the problem”.
“There is no silver bullet, but we must enforce every possible measure to deter illegal migrants from entering British waters.”
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