In a speech tomorrow, PM Keir Starmer is set to announce digital ID cards – so-called ‘BritCards’ – for adults in the UK in a bid to tackle illegal migration
Keir Starmer is set to announce digital ID cards – so-called “BritCards” – for adults in the UK in a bid to tackle illegal migration.
The PM, who is expected to confirm the move in a speech tomorrow, will allow the verification of a citizen’s right to live and work in the UK.
Every adult would need a digital ID – which can be held in a GOV.UK smartphone app – when trying to get a job or rent a home in the UK. It would then be checked against a central database of people entitled to live and work in the UK.
It is hoped making it easier to check someone’s immigration status would reduce the attraction of working in the UK illegally, including for delivery companies, and crack down on rogue landlords.
Former PM Tony Blair has long called for ID cards, but the Government previously said it was not planning to bring them in. However a new report by think-tank Labour Together was passed to No10’s policy unit in the summer.
The ID cards would be issued free of charge to everyone with the right to live and work in the UK, Labour Together says. It estimates it would cost between £140million and £400million to set up.
It is hoped the cards could have other consumer benefits, including people not having to take their passport to pick up a delivery at the Post Office. Plans could also include the cards being used as a form of ID to buy alcohol.
Mr Starmer is due to speak at the Global Progress Action Summit in London alongside Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
Earlier this month, the the Prime Minister said an ID card system could play an “important part” in stopping illegal migration. He said things had “moved on” since the debate over ID cards during the last Labour government in the 2000s.
He had told the BBC : “We all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago, and I think that, psychologically, it plays a different part.”