UK Government Backtracks on Plans to Introduce Digital ID System After Public Backlash
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/07/19/uk-government-backtracks-on-plans-to-introduce-digital-id-system-after-public-backlash/
The British government will scrap plans to introduce a digital ID system after steep public backlash, the office of incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has confirmed.
In a string of immediate concessions laid out ahead of him officially being sworn in on Monday as Britain’s seventh prime minister in the past decade, former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s team told the BBC that the government will drop the push from outgoing PM Sir Kier Starmer to impose a digital ID system in favour of focusing on the “the daily priorities facing people across the country”.
A spokesman for the incoming leader added that 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.”
The proposed digital ID system was one of the more contentious legislative items put forward by the Starmer adminstration, which had argued that such a scheme would allow the government to crack down on firms hiring illegal immigrants and to allow citizens to better access social services.
However, opponents have raised concerns over right to privacy, particularly online, with the British state already arresting thousands for comments they make on social media. Some have warned that a digital ID system would potentially undermine the ability of people to post their political beliefs anonymously to avoid possible prosecution
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