Government U-turns on mandatory digital ID cards

The government is backing down on its plan for mandatory digital ID cards for anyone wanting to get a job in the UK.

This tells us two things; one about the hole the government is in, and another about how it means to climb out.

The 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.

But tonight 10 Downing Street signalled a U-turn.

A government spokesman would only go as far as saying: “We 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.

This is what it tells us about where the government is: Sir Keir Starmer can turn an issue that is not especially unpopular, into one that is really quite unpopular simply by announcing that he wants to do it.

YouGov found the number of people opposed to ID cards rocketed from 25% before his announcement to 47% after it.

This is not the effect you want your cheerleader-in-chief to have on your policies.

But Tuesday’s U-turn also tells us that Keir Starmer sees a way out of this hole.

I understand that the prime minister judged the argument over ID cards was too much of a distraction from his new focus on bearing down on the cost of living.

Keir Starmer believes that where centre-left governments around the world have seen off right-wing challenges, he has been by delivering on the cost of living, and that’s where he wants the energy of government to be directed.