The Government has backtracked on its plans to make digital IDs mandatory for those seeking to work in the UK.
Ministers have instead opted to allow those seeking employment to use a range of digital documents to prove their eligibility to work, including electronic visas and biometric passports.
The plans to make digital IDs mandatory for right to work checks, first revealed by The i Paper, had been hailed by the Prime Minister as an “enormous opportunity” which would “make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure”.
But the proposal was met with widespread criticism, including from Labour MPs concerned about public backlash over making the IDs mandatory to work, as well as the policy’s true ability to lower immigration.
The concerns, fuelled by a petition opposing mandatory digital IDs which gained nearly three million signatures, led ministers to ditch the plans this week in Labour’s 13th policy U-turn since the July 2024 general election.
Here, The i Paper takes a closer look at what the Government’s latest U-turn involves, as well as what it would mean for its ability to deter migrants from coming to the UK illegally.
What are Labour’s digital ID plans now?
In September, the Government announced that digital IDs with each user’s name, date of birth, residency status and photo would be required for right to work checks by the end of Parliament.
The scheme also aimed to make it easier to apply for Government and private sector services, including helping renters prove their identity to landlords, as well as allow welfare claimants to access benefits.
The plans sought to make identity theft, forging documents and employing people without registering them more difficult, with the aim of deterring people from working and living in the UK illegally.
“We need to know who is in our country,” Starmer said as he unveiled the plans, adding that digital IDs would prevent migrants from working in “the shadow economy”.
But Labour’s U-turn on the policy means those seeking employment will be able to use any digital identification, such as biometric passports or e-visas, to prove they are in the country legally.
While the plans will be subject to a public consultation, digital IDs are still expected to be rolled out for right to work checks, accessing welfare and obtaining free childcare.
They are also expected to be used to apply for a school, driver’s licence or accessing tax records. But for all these services, using digital IDs will be entirely voluntary.
How will the U-turn affect illegal migration?
Despite the Government’s U-turn, those seeking to work in the UK will still be required to prove they are eligible to do so.
Labour claims using digital identification documents instead of paper-based ones will make it harder for illegal migrants to fraudulently claim they have a right to work in the UK.
Addressing MPs on Wednesday, Starmer said: “I’m determined to make it harder for people to work illegally in this country and that’s why there will be checks, they will be digital, and they will be mandatory.”
But Conservative MP Richard Holden argued that requiring digital right to work checks would not stop illegal working because people employed illegally are not asked to prove their right to work anyway.
Speaking on BBC Politics Live, he asked: “Why would a digital ID stop [people] from working illegally if they’re already working illegally? The Government’s never really answered that question.”
He added: “It’s not going to make any difference. If you’re working illegally in the UK now, you’d be working illegally without a digital ID in the future, because you’ve got to have ID to work in the UK today.”
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In response, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said “people working illegally now didn’t have to prove their identification using biometric data”, which he indicated would safeguard against illegal workers.
Kyle said: “What Richard [Holden] wants to do is carry on with the paper-based system we have at the moment, where it’s very difficult for HMRC and enforcement agencies to identify employers who … aren’t actually declaring how many people are working for them, or haven’t … submitted all of the forms.
“When you move to a digital system, of course you can do that with real accuracy, speed, efficiency, and you can do it on a scale that you wouldn’t have had before.”
The remarks were backed by a No10 spokesperson, who said paper-based right to work checks “often meant there was no record of checks having taken place” and left the system “open to fraud and abuse, meaning the UK was seen as a soft target for illegal working”.
The spokesperson said digital IDs would instead offer a “free and easy way for anyone to prove their right to work”, but emphasised the details of the scheme would be set out following a full public consultation.
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