UK says it will introduce digital ID cards, reviving a contentious idea

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LONDON (AP) — British citizens and permanent residents will have to produce a mandatory digital identification card in order to get work, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Friday, reviving a contentious idea in an effort to show that the government has control of the country's borders.

The government says the plan will help reduce unauthorized immigration by making it harder for people to work in the underground economy. It says it will also make it simpler for people to access health care, welfare, child care and other public services.

“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that," Starmer told an international meeting of center-left politicians in London. He said the new ID system would be in place before the next election, due by 2029.

Britain has not had compulsory identity cards for ordinary citizens since shortly after World War II, and the idea has long been contentious, with civil rights campaigners arguing it infringes personal liberty and puts people’s information at risk.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to introduce biometric ID cards two decades ago as a way of fighting terrorism and fraud, but the plan was abandoned after strong opposition from the public and Parliament.

“There’s always been this feeling that Britain is not a so-called ‘Papers, please’ society, in contrast to continental Europe and other countries where ID cards are very common,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

“It has to be said, however, that given one is forced in some ways to prove one’s ID in myriad circumstances, both in contact with the government and in contact with the private sector in all sorts of ways, that actually a digital ID card would be quite useful.”

Starmer said people would not have to carry their ID or be asked to produce it, but it will be mandatory to get a job.

Announcing the plans at the Global Progress Action Summit, attended by politicians including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez, Starmer said that "for too many years it’s been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally.

“Because, frankly, we’ve been squeamish about saying things that are clearly true,” Starmer said, adding that "the simple fact that every nation needs to have control over its borders. We do need to know who is in our country."

He said that showing voters the immigration system is fair was key to defeating the “politics of predatory grievance” offered by parties on the hard and far right.

The government said the digital ID will be free and will work for people who don’t have a smartphone, and it will hold a public consultation to work out the details.

Like previous Conservative governments, Starmer’s Labour Party administration is struggling to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in flimsy, inflatable boats operated by people smugglers. Some 37,000 people crossed the English Channel on small boats last year, and more than 30,000 so far this year.

Starmer has vowed to cut that number by tackling the criminal people smuggling gangs that organize the journeys, and by reducing the “pull factors” that draw migrants to the U.K — including a perception that it is easy to find under-the-table work.