Overview

• Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that without the digital ID, people will not be able to work in the United Kingdom.
• The credential will be digital-only, stored on mobile phones, with Downing Street expecting later use for childcare, welfare and tax services.
• Officials say the system will make illegal employment harder, bolster border security and disrupt criminal networks that sell access to the UK labour market.
• The government promises advanced encryption to safeguard personal information, after earlier ID proposals were dropped over civil-liberties objections.
• Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage pledged to oppose a mandatory digital ID, while an Ipsos poll shows 57% support for an ID card but only 38% for a digital version.