The British government is rolling back plans to introduce a single, mandatory type of digital ID for workers, officials said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain laid out plans in September to introduce a new digital ID known as the BritCard, which would be required to prove that someone had the right to work in Britain. At the time, he presented it as a way to deter undocumented migrants from coming to the country to find work.
On Wednesday, however, officials in his cabinet said that the new form of digital ID would not be the only way to prove the right to work, and that verification could instead take several forms.
“The difference is whether that has to be one piece of ID — a digital ID card — or whether it can be an e-visa or an e-passport,” Rachel Reeves, Britain’s top economic official, said in an interview with the BBC. “And we’re pretty relaxed about what form that takes.”
The retreat is the latest in a series of policy dilutions or reversals by the Starmer government since it came to power in 2024, including U-turns on a planned reduction in welfare payments and a deeply unpopular retiree benefit cut. The changes have fueled criticism from opposition parties that the government is weak and lacks a clear direction.
Ms. Reeves said that one of the objectives of the new digitized system — to root out illegal immigration — had not changed, and that the government still planned to introduce a system of digital verification for the right to work in the country.
“We’re going to be consulting on what exact form that takes, but I want to be really clear: to work in the U.K., you’ve got to be able to prove digitally that you can work in the U.K.,” Ms. Reeves said.
The new system would also aim to guard against identity theft and to streamline identity checks, the government said in September, simplifying services like applying for child care or welfare.
Heidi Alexander, Britain’s secretary for transport, told a BBC radio show that the government was still “absolutely committed” to mandatory digital checks for the right to work, and she said the current system was not adequate.
“At the moment, we’ve got a paper-based system; there’s no proper records kept,” Ms. Alexander told BBC Radio 4. “It makes it very difficult, then, to target enforcement action sensibly against businesses that are employing illegal workers.”
A poll published in August suggested that a majority of people in Britain supported the idea of a national ID system, with respondents favoring the concept of a single card that could function as an ID, passport and driver’s license.
But when asked in more detail about ID cards, people voiced concerns about data security and civil liberties.
Opposition politicians and digital rights groups also opposed the BritCard proposal, raising similar concerns over data security and civil liberties. A petition on the Parliament’s website calling on the government to stop the system garnered nearly three million signatures.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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