Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK

Plans to encourage employees to sign up to the government's digital ID scheme in order to demonstrate their right to work in the United Kingdom have been suspended. By 2029, right to work checks will be conducted digitally, for example by using biometric passports, but registering with the new digital ID scheme would be optional. This is a change from last year, when the government first announced the scheme, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told an audience:

You will not be allowed to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital IDentification. It's as simple as that.

Good riddance," Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said. It was a terrible policy anyway.

Labour's step, she said, was

another U-turn. The change in policy is the latest in a string of U-turns that the government has made since taking office, including a crackdown on welfare reforms, lowering winter fuel prices, and increasing inheritance tax for farmers. When the government first revealed the policy, it was believed that mandatory digital IDentification for employees would make it possible to crack down on immigrants working illegally. According to reports, the policy will now focus less on immigrant issues, and the government will instead place more emphasis on the fact that digital IDentification can be a useful tool for the public in seeking public facilities. According to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the government has still

fully committed

to mandatory digital right to work checks, including biometric passports, and that digitizing the system would help cracking down on illegal working.

The digital IDentity could be a way in which you can demonstrate your eligibility to work through a digital right to work check,she saID.We now have a paper-based system, but there are no official records that are kept.

It makes it very difficult to take enforcement action against employers that are employing unlawful employees.

Fortun

saw another U-turn as former home secretary Lord DavID Blunkett, who supported ID cards while in government, told the same program that the government had not explained why the policy mattered or how it would function, so it was

not surprisingto see another U. Turn.The original statement was not followed by a narrative or support letters or any sort of strategic initiative that involved other ministers and those who have committed to this actually making the case.

As a result, those who oppose the scheme, some of whom are inexplicable, were able to mobilise public opinion and get the online opposition to it up and running. According to polls, public support for digital ID faded after Sir Keir's announcement, dropping from just over half of the population being supportive in June to less than a third of the country's population just after his address. Nearly three million people have signed a parliamentary petition opposing the introduction of digital IDs. Any Labour MPs have also expressed skepticism about the compulsory component of the initial plan. Whatever they believe about the revision to this specific policy, Labour MPs are getting more dissatisfied with the government's U-turns. Some people had already been wary of defending turbulent government policies to their constituents because they feared that the policy would eventually be reversed. Last night, one outraged Labour MP told the BBC that the new U-turn was

an absolute car accident,adding:The boys at No 10 juMPed into it with no intention, marched the PLP up the hill only to bottle it, take all the pain, and no blame.

Liberal Democrats saID the policy was doomed to fail from the start, and that

the billions of pounds planned for their mandatory digital ID scheme

would be spent on the NHS and frontline policing instead.No 10 must be bulk ordering motion sickness tablets at this rate in order to deal with all their U-turns,

the party's Cabinet Office spokesperson, Lisa Smart, said.

This is a victory for individual rights against a tyranical, authoritarian government,

reform UK leader Nigel Farage said in a blog on X:

Wantly, author author Reform UK would scrap it altogether.

The government has U-turned on ID cards, according to Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who saID on X. Good.

We have agreed to compulsory digital right to work checks,a government spokesperson said.A hodge podge of paper-based checks are among the new right to work checks,

the author states. This is open to fraud and abuse.

Digital ID will make everyday life for people more convenient, joined-up, and cost-effective, while still remaining inclusive.

Employers also have to check if someone they want to recruit has the right to work in the United Kingdom. Employers have been able to do checks on passport-holder British and Irish citizens using government-approved digital verification companies since 2022. There is also a Home Office online service that verifies the identity of any non-British or Irish citizens whose visa status is verified electronically. The specifics of how digital ID will work have yet to be established, but it is expected to be based on two government-built technologies: Gov. uk One Login and Gov. uk Wallet. More than 12 million people have signed up to One Login, which can be used for things such as applying for a veteran card, canceling a lost passport, or retaining a lasting power of attorney. Gov. The UK wallet has yet to be released, but it will enable people to document their digital IDentity on their smartphones. The digital ID will have the name, date of birth, nationality, and resIDence status, as well as a photograph.