Money set aside for the national identity programme will be diverted towards household priorities, the incoming prime minister’s team says — but the Conservatives claim he is taking credit for a decision that had already been made.
Andy Burnham is to abolish the government’s digital ID programme altogether when he enters Downing Street on Monday, in what will be his first major policy announcement as prime minister. The incoming Labour leader, who formally takes office after an audience with King Charles III, intends to channel the money reserved for the project into easing the cost of living instead. The scheme was unveiled by his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer last year, only to be scaled back to a voluntary service in January following a substantial public backlash. Burnham’s office said the decision would shift attention to “the daily priorities facing people across the country”.
A spokesperson said the “time and resource that was going to be spent on a national ID scheme will go instead to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living”.
“This reprioritisation of public resource shows a change in direction towards improving everyday life and strengthening local economies over expensive national government schemes,” they added.
According to his office, “one of the first things this government will do is put its focus where people need it right now”, with the abolition of digital ID “redirecting the resources earmarked for the scheme towards people’s everyday priorities”.
Conservatives accuse Burnham of ‘claiming credit’
The announcement drew a pointed response from the Conservatives. Shadow technology secretary Julia Lopez accused the incoming prime minister of “trying to pretend he’s riding to the rescue” after Labour had, she said, “wasted millions of pounds on this project”.
“After pressure from the Conservatives, mandatory ID was already apparently off the table,” she said. “Andy Burnham now needs to explain whether that was untrue, or whether he is simply claiming credit for a decision that had already been taken.”
The Liberal Democrats gave the move a warmer reception. The party’s MP Lisa Smart said people would be “hugely relieved to know they are no longer set to be forced to hand over their data just to go about their daily lives”.
“We have long said the obscene sums earmarked for digital ID would be a huge waste of taxpayers’ money, and it’s a relief that Burnham has woken up to that,” she said in a statement.
How the digital ID plan unravelled
Sir Keir first made the case for digital ID ahead of Labour’s conference last year, arguing that requiring every worker in the UK to hold one would make it easier to tackle migrants working in the country illegally, while helping to modernise the state. He also said the system would allow people to prove their identity quickly when using key services, rather than searching for documents such as utility bills.
Questions over the cost soon followed. Last November, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated the programme would come to £1.8 billion over three years — a figure Downing Street rejected.
Public opposition proved harder to dismiss. After a parliamentary petition against digital IDs gathered nearly three million signatures, ministers dropped the compulsory element in January and relaunched the scheme on a voluntary basis, presenting it as a future “one stop” app through which people could handle everything from managing childcare to filling in tax returns.
The reversal did not end the criticism. In a report examining the launch and the changes that followed, Home Affairs Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley concluded that the government had been right to pursue digital ID but had mishandled its delivery, describing the episode as “nothing short of a fiasco” which “raised fears of government over-reach into people’s lives”.
North Sea drilling next on the agenda
The digital ID decision comes on the heels of news that Burnham will announce plans for fresh oil and gas drilling in the North Sea once in office. Labour’s 2024 manifesto — which the new leader has said he will follow — promised not to issue new licences while honouring those already granted, and Burnham is expected to keep to that commitment. Precise details have yet to emerge, but with many licences approved in recent years still largely undeveloped, one option would be to speed up existing drilling plans rather than grant new permissions.
As he prepares to take office, Burnham also faces scepticism from the Conservative leadership. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, party leader Kemi Badenoch described his plans for government as “airy fairy”, accusing him of not being aware of “what the country’s priorities are” and insisting the country needs a leader ready to “take tough decisions”.
