Keir Starmer Drops Mandatory Digital ID Policy

Keir Starmer has ditched plans to force all workers to have digital ID cards in his 13th U-turn since becoming prime minister.

In a major humiliation for the PM, the Cabinet Office confirmed that the controversial cards would no longer be compulsory for those seeking employment.

When the policy was announced in September last year, Starmer said: “Let me spell it out, you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID.”

But Starmer’s latest climbdown means that the digital ID cards will be optional, giving workers the choice of whether to use other ways of proving their identity.

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to mandatory digital right to work checks.

“Currently, right to work checks include a hodge podge of paper-based systems with no record of checks ever taking place. This is open to fraud and abuse.

“We have always been clear that details on the digital ID scheme will be set out following a full public consultation which will launch shortly.

“Digital ID will make everyday life easier for people, ensuring public services are more personal, joined-up, and effective, while also remaining inclusive.”

The U-turn follows climbdowns on other flagship government policies like scrapping winter fuel payments and cuts to disability benefits.

But Tory MP Mike Wood, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, 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.

“Only the Conservatives have the plan and the team to restore common sense to public policy.”

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart said: “Number 10 must be bulk ordering motion sickness tablets at this rate to cope with all their U-turns.

“It was clear right from the start this was a proposal doomed to failure, that would have cost obscene amounts of taxpayers’ money to deliver absolutely nothing.”