Government Considers Watering Down Mandatory Digital Id
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UK Waters Down Digital ID Plans — But Go Ahead Remains
Was this just a policy tweak or an embarrassing government U-turn?
Above: British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London on Jan. 14. Image credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
The Spin
Labour Party narrative
This is not a U-turn. This is just a public policy tweak ahead of a more thorough public consultation process. The government has made clear that the system around right to work checks needs updating and there will still be a form of mandatory digital ID checks for everyone in work — though the government is relaxed on whether it's a digital ID card or some other mechanism.
Right narrative
After introducing the deeply unpopular idea of mandatory digital IDs for workers, Labour has been forced into yet another major U-turn. Anyway, good riddance as it was a terrible policy and would have introduced a whole host of brand new problems. This was a major embarrassment for the government.
Establishment-critical narrative
The government's announcement that digital IDs will not be required for workers is a welcome one. However, it needs to go one step further and scrap the whole idea as centralized digital IDs will no doubt be abused to impinge on civil liberties and could be used by a future government to take reprisals against critics and dissenters. This is a sure-fire way of turning Britain from a free country into an authoritarian one.
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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.0