Keir Starmer faces PMQs after U-turn on mandatory digital ID cards

Keir Starmer is set to face Prime Minister’s Questions after the UK Government announced a U-turn on mandatory digital ID cards.

The government backed down on its plan for the cards for anyone seeking employment in the UK.

The digital ID plan, announced by the Prime Minister in September, was intended to help crack down on the apparent ease with which migrants can work illegally in the UK.

On Tuesday night, a government spokesman would only go as far as saying that they are “committed to mandatory digital right to work checks”.

In other words, digital checks will still be mandatory, but they will no longer have to be checks of the proposed digital ID cards; other forms of ID can be used, too.

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves played down the impact of her government’s growing number of U-turns amid the digital ID climbdown.

Asked about how the latest decision reflects on the government, she told BBC Breakfast: “Well, I don’t think most people mind whether it is one piece of digital ID or a form of digital ID that can be verified.

“But the point is, we’re trying to address a problem, and the question is how to do that.”

The chancellor said the government is “pretty relaxed” about what form of digital documentation people use to prove their right to work.

She continued: “On the digital ID, for starters, I do think this story has been a bit overwritten. We are saying that you will need a mandatory digital ID to be able to work in the UK.

“Now the difference is whether that has to be one piece of ID, a digital ID card, or whether it could be an e-visa or an e-passport, and we’re pretty relaxed about what form that takes.”

Starmer could face questions about the Government’s plans for mandatory digital ID cards on Wednesday.

PMQs will be broadcast from the House of Commons at midday.