Andy Burnham will scrap the digital ID plan for British adults, saying the money and effort should go instead to the cost of living.
Andy Burnham will scrap the digital ID plan for British adults when he becomes prime minister on Monday, making the digital ID debate his first major policy move and putting the issue on hold in the process. His office said the government should turn its attention to what people are dealing with right now, rather than pressing ahead with a nationwide identity system.
The announcement follows earlier changes under Sir Keir Starmer, who had already scaled back proposals for a mandatory digital ID for workers in the UK. Burnham’s spokesperson said the time and resources set aside for the scheme would be redirected to areas of greater need, including help with the cost of living and other everyday pressures facing households across the country.
Digital ID had first been pitched by Starmer ahead of Labour’s conference last year. He argued at the time that a mandatory system would make it easier to crack down on illegal working and update government services. He also said it could help people prove their identity more quickly when accessing services, instead of having to track down utility bills and other paperwork.
The policy quickly ran into resistance. After nearly three million people signed a parliamentary petition against digital IDs, the government changed course in January and dropped the compulsory element. Ministers then relaunched the idea as voluntary, saying it could eventually be used through a “one stop” app for tasks such as childcare and tax returns. The Office for Budget Responsibility later estimated the programme would cost £1.8 billion over three years, though Downing Street rejected that figure.
The policy also drew criticism inside Parliament. Home Affairs Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley said the launch and the later changes were, in her words, “nothing short of a fiasco,” and said the episode had raised fears that the state was overreaching into people’s lives.
Burnham is due to meet King Charles III on Monday before taking office. His team says one of the first priorities of the new government will be to put public resources toward people’s daily needs. Conservatives accused him of trying to take credit for a retreat from a project they say Labour had already mishandled, while Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart said people would be relieved not to be forced to hand over their data just to go about ordinary life. The key point is that Burnham is using the digital ID fight to signal a change in direction, with cost of living concerns now being put ahead of a centralised identity scheme.
