Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected claims that his government's decision to alter the digital ID plan represents another U-turn, as the Conservatives accused him of having "no sense of direction". The change, announced late on Tuesday, drops a mandatory requirement for a specific digital ID document to prove the right to work, allowing alternatives such as a passport with a digital chip or an e-visa instead.
Downing Street described the move as a "technical tweak", but it removes the only compulsory element of the scheme, significantly reducing its scope. This follows other recent policy reversals on inheritance tax for farms and business rates for pubs. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch mocked Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions, saying: "I feel like I say that every week," and likening him to "a plastic bag in the wind".
In a broadcast interview on Wednesday, Starmer insisted the core principle remains intact. "You will be checked. Those checks will be digital. And they will be mandatory," he told ITV. "What we’re now doing is consulting on exactly what that might look like." He denied it was a U-turn, emphasising the aim to stop illegal working.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves played down the significance, telling BBC Breakfast: "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." Business Secretary Peter Kyle added that by 2029, digital-only checks would be in place, linking biometric data to identity for instant eligibility verification.
