UK's seventh prime minister in a decade says he'll ditch digital ID scheme

Andy Burnham is barely through the door at No. 10, and one of Keir Starmer's flagship tech projects is already heading for the shredder, with the incoming prime minister set to scrap the UK's digital ID scheme while creating a Cabinet-level minister for artificial intelligence. The move, reported by Reuters, kills off a policy …

[DaveK23]

Hooray!

That is all.

(Mentally getting ready for the next time this battle has to be fought a few years down the road...)

[Goodwin Sands]

Re: Hooray!

>ready for the next time this battle has to be fought a few years down the road...

Indeed. Though it might not be years down the road before that happens. There's a fair chance Burnham's plan is to only make popular announcements now, then call an early election, then when he wins that, then it'll be time to really clamp down and screw up the country even more.

Tis a good and straightforward plan, but in Burham's/Labour's hands it's probably not deliverable - I hope so anyway.

[Sproggit]

Re: Hooray!

That and (likely) the fact that he realises that any such project will turn in to another central government money-pit, result in one-sided contracts locking the nation in to paying {insert US mega-corp here} for years to come... and the acceptance that there are more important things for the government to be spending money on...

[Goodwin Sands]

Re: Hooray!

24 hours later and we've already got two U-turns ..

U-turn number 1: Cabinet Office Perm Sec this morning: No, Digital ID is not being ditched. Responsibility for it is moving to DCMS.

U-turn number 2: Unnamed spokesperson: Yes, Digital ID is being ditched, just not immediately.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Hooray!

To be replaced by an analogue ID card scheme.

It will be a giant piece of paper, like the old driving licence, but hand written .

Which you will have to carry at all times and can be inspected by everyone from the neighbourhood watch to MI5 dog warden

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hooray!

Unlike the Frenchie Brexit passports … Manchestershire made only..

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hooray!

Some irony here, possibly even knowing what he is talking about…. Burnham used to be Blair’s Digital ID Minister.

That being said Digital ID being delivered anyway … digital driving licences, digital passports to keep up with the rest of the world …..

They should perhaps have checked in with Republic of Ireland, as their is fairly popular, is already working, is delivering measurable benefits … and is in English.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Hooray!

I think national ID cards – common in most countries – are where to start. Cheaper and easier to explain the benefits for the holders, such as, for example, making it valid for travel in and out of the Schengen area. This whole digital ID stuff fell at the first hurdle because it was all about the benefits to others. Optional digital functionality can be added later.

Anyway, quick win for Burnham, so why not take it.

[David Harper 1]

Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

There's already a digital ID system in the UK. It's called the e-Visa, and all non-British residents must now have one. Last year, it replaced physical proofs of right of residency such as indefinite leave to remain stamps in passports. And it has been a disaster, with many e-Visa holders finding that the app fails to work at critical moments such as when they are trying to board a flight back home to the UK. Other e-Visa holders have found their details being mixed up with those of other people by the Home Office's computer systems. In short, a typical government IT fiasco, but with the worst aspects of the Windrush scandal thrown in for good measure.

My American wife, who had indefinite leave to remain in the UK for almost 30 years, decided to acquire British citizenship rather than risk being stranded overseas by the e-Visa system. Perversely, it was also easier to do that than to convert her ILR into an e-Visa.

I've followed the ongoing e-Visa fiasco for a couple of years now, and the idea of being forced to carry something similar horrifies me. If cancelling the digital ID project is the only thing the Burnham government achieves, it will still be a good thing.

[D Moss Esq]

Re: Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

The digital ID initiative that has been cancelled is the digital ID initiative with no specification and no budget.

What has not been cancelled is the GOV.UK One Login identity verification "service" which already has over 10 million UK accountholders/victims according to unreliable civil service sources (https://companieshouse.blog.gov.uk/2025/11/19/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-with-gov-uk-one-login/) and has been adopted as the access route to several hundred online UK government services.

After shaking hands with these government announcements remember to count your fingers.

[Fonant]

Re: Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

I'm proud to say that, for reasons to do with Companies House, I am the proud owner of TWO "One Login" accounts :)

[Tron]

Re: Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

When my sim was killed by my telco without reason or warning I couldn't get into my gov tax account (because 2FA adds a new point of failure). A circular path of decreasing options, finally gave me a second account. The new account could do everything except my tax. For this, I needed to log in to my original account. Which I couldn't. It took some time, repeating the same security hurdles with different outcomes until I finally managed to change the 2FA number on the tax account and actually pay some money to Glorious Leader. I probably still have the second account. Of course they want me to change to the one gov thing, and change the tax (which actually worked OK when you got into it) for the crappy MTD, requiring a new laptop, just for the crappy 3rd party software. Maybe Burnham could abolish the MTD STASI shitshow as well.

It's been amusing to see the BBC treat Burnham's arrival as the second coming of the saviour. ITV usually have failed Tory MPs as commentators, so probably less positive there.

Give him a few weeks and he will be annoying people. I'm so old I can remember when Tony Blair was popular.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

Ah yes the GOV.UK One Login that issues a Personal Code, which you are then required to share with all sorts of prople.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Other reasons not to trust Digital ID

It's no better in the US thanks to DOdGEy. I had to get a new login for the SSA website which involved having a code *posted* to me. It arrived a week after it had expired.

[DaveK23]

GOV.UK One login.

FFS. I need to renew my DL. Spent ages creating the account, installing the app... only to get stuck in an infinite loop where the webpage failed to launch the app and I had to log in again. Tried again the other evening after an update to the app. This time it worked, as far as logging into the website, opening the app.. then spent ages scanning my DL and face over and over, until it finally said it couldn't verify my identity. Now it locked me out. DVLA can't do anything about it, ONE Login helpdesk a) can't reset it, b) can't tell me anything about why it failed (for "security reasons" but it seems more like security theatre to me), and c) told me that it would reset "at some time", but couldn't explain when or why. Now I have to pay more money to renew my DL, and go to a post office in person to do it.

What a useless heap of buggy shit. Everyone involved should be fired. How the hell much did we pay for this worthless waste of time?

[breakfast]

So that Minister for AI...

The Minister for AI is going to focus on insulating the country from the impacts of the AI bubble bursting, right?

... right???

[xyz123]

Starmers gone and thank god.

He had multiple meetings with Google and Apple and DEMANDED that the digital ID app be allowed to re-enable Location Services, without notifying the user in any way.

BOTH companies got loud and sweary at him (seriously) as they knew such a system would mean people stopping buying new phones, and going back to older devices without Location Services.

It'd essentially have killed iOS and Android dead in the UK.

Starmer tried to threaten he'd "block" their products entirely in the UK and "shut them down". but it was a bluff.

Thank christ that soviet-era tracking enthusiast is gone, but lets hope the replacement doesn't just try to sneak digital ID in by another name.

[thosrtanner]

Given all the rubbish that comes on mobile phones, I;m not sure that killing iOS and Android dead would have been an entirely bad thing

[Excused Boots]

Source is some random post on X by someone called 'innit4theLolz'.

So I'm convinced.

[Recessio]

Source?

[gryphon]

"Thank christ that soviet-era tracking enthusiast is gone, but lets hope the replacement doesn't just try to sneak digital ID in by another name."

Unfortunately that is always what happens.

It'll be something like YourGov, National Entitlement Card (see Scotland, get 'em young when they don't know to refuse), Easy Access or that ilk.

[Dan 55]

Oh to have been a fly on the wall...

[Ian Johnston]

The prime minister personally had these meetings? And you know what he said and how Google and Apple's representatives responded? Yeah right.

[Floor1]

But

A welcome end to digital ID it but....

You will have to do age/ID verification to logon to all services that allow posts, messages or videos. Also you will have your content scanned locally on device where there could be Misson creep on what is allowed/reported by the state.

I think Europe may have made an exception for signal.

https://fightchatcontrol.eu/

[TimMaher]

Person of Interest

Now watching the last season.

AI and continuous tracking of all people everywhere is now the thing. Samaritan is in charge.

And that was made in 2011.

Also, closing track on last episode of season three… “Welcome to the machine”.

Brilliant.

[sindrelspec]

Re: Person of Interest

Jonathan Nolan does not get the credit he deserves, he created and wrote POI, wrote the Interstellar script and co-wrote the Batman scripts. yet everyone always mentions his brother, but never him.

[breakfast]

Re: Person of Interest

They struggle to get credit because with a surname like that they're not suited to networking.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Person of Interest

Like my annoying Scandinavian cousin SIGHUP, can never get him off the phone

[RSW]

How is a saving of £1.8B if it was never allocated or existed in the first place?

I would ve much more intrested to kow how much it has cost already?

[Oh Matron!]

Because not all govt projects are funded from the public purse. Money is borrowed

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>Because not all govt projects are funded from the public purse. Money is borrowed

I must try that line with the bank

[Richard Jones 1]

Is it another Pig in a Poke?

Will he really stop the waste of money on Starmer's vanity project, or will it simply rumble on giving employment to foreign workers? This was the case.

[Evil Scot]

Re: Is it another Pig in a Poke?

Will Illegal working practices be curbed by legal means?

[elsergiovolador]

Delegation

Once backs get patted, adrenaline rush wears off, the usual suspects likely scheduling a delegation to explain why ditching Digital ID is a bad idea. This keeps floating back up like a turd in a river, so suspect a u-turn is incoming.

The idea that everyone has a case officer in their pocket always listening for wrong think (as defined by government of the day) and tracking movements is too good to pass, for both left and right.

[David Hicklin]

Re: Delegation

It will be back once the Senior Civil Servants (Servants? Really? just who the hell are they serving!!) and Security Chiefs starts whispering to them and open their little black book that contains the PM's dirty little secrets.

I can think of no other way that this zombie keeps on coming back from the dead despite all the iron stakes that are put through it.

[frankyunderwood123]

fingers crossed sanity prevails on bit barns

If under Burnham the bit barn AI “we can’t afford to miss the bus” continues, that will be severely dissapointing.

It’s a race to nowhere but lost billions for the UK and a slap in the face for any plans to improve peoples lives.

The UK should sit out the AI bit barn building until after the coming AI crash and then assess the best course of action.

You can’t build hundreds of AI bit barns AND hundreds of thousands of council houses and magically expect the grid to cope, not to mention the water supply!

[elsergiovolador]

Re: fingers crossed sanity prevails on bit barns

Only correct way to participate in AI nonsense is manufacturing chips and adjacent tech. Bit barns is just laziest way to incorporate AI into government PR.

[theOtherJT]

My problem with Digital ID...

...isn't so much the idea that it should exist - in many respects I think it's a good idea - it's what they'll try and use it for once they have it.

If I could link up my passport, driving licence, national insurance card into a single thing that seems like it could be very helpful. But what we're talking about there is a form of identity credential. A very powerful one.

I would not want to be handing that over to... well, sort of anyone really. It's something that only the government should be in a position to issue, and only the government should be in a position to see. I mean, they already are. You don't need to worry about the government holding that sort of information about you. It's them that issued it to you in the first place. As an exercise in tidying up complex sprawling backend systems therefore I'm sort of fine with it.

But if I'm not happy handing it over to any non-governmental entity in that case it becomes immediately useless as a proof-of-age or whatever token. I am not giving something with that much personal information that's impossible to revoke (Looking at you biometrics) to any private company, who will inevitably - regardless of what their "privacy policy" says - attempt to monetise it.

I'd want to see laws around some sort of key-exchange mechanism which makes this information completely *unavailable* to 3rd parties except in the form of some sort of well documented API where I have to explicitly consent to each individual attempt to access it - and they don't even get to see what it says for the most common uses like proof of age. You query the endpoint, I get one of those "Hey, this business wants to access the 21 or above" endpoint, do you agree?" notifications, and I can approve it or refuse it.

That sort of thing is complicated tho. There's a whole stack of infrastructure required to make something like that work, and I don't really trust the government to do that without it accidentally going 500% over budget and only being delivered after the underlying technology has already been proven obsolete.

so... yeah, ok, no. We're just better off without this.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

some sort of well documented API where I have to explicitly consent to each individual attempt to access it

And also costs the person querying it an amount of money, say £10.00, so it is only ever requested if they stand to lose much more if something goes wrong, such as a bank loan...

[SamanthaFA]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

"If I could link up my passport, driving licence, national insurance card into a single thing that seems like it could be very helpful. But what we're talking about there is a form of identity credential. A very powerful one."

yep, and the big problems start when it gets compromised. ID theft is a nightmare to get resolved for the people it happens to. see the latest Panorama -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002z9x4/panorama-theres-a-gangster-in-my-flat

costing both the landlords who get scammed & the individuals who've had their identity compromised huge amounts of money & stress.

apparently 45% of crime in the UK is now fraud of some kind - and the police response to it mostly seems to be 'meh'..... :-((

[Ken Hagan]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

Exactly. Describing this as a Single Point of Failure understates the risk, since (to the bad guys, like Putin and Pooh) it is a single target.

But let's play with some numbers. Assuming a UK population of 10^8, you need pretty astonishing levels of reliability in that 1 system to avoid unacceptable risks of people suddenly finding themselves declared non-persons by all branches of officialdom simultaneously. Whereas ... if you keep several forms of ID separate at the implementation level (in the way that driving licences, passports, NHS stuff, increasingly /aren't/) then fairly achievable levels of reliability in each system make the odds of a simultaneous failure of all of them (for the same victim) almost inconceivable.

We know the systems will fail. How hard is it for a victim to recover when they do?

[James Anderson]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

For most of my adult life I have lived in countries where you need to register and get some sort of physical ID. Where I live now I also have a very handy digital ID.

Never had a problem with any of them. One thing it definitely stops is identity theft!

Bloody nightmare coming back to the Old Country try doing anything without a credit rating which has become the de facto and rather crap identity verification system. Had to take out a credit card to prove my existence.

You really need to know the identity of people you are dealing with why not do it properly?

[airbrush]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

The only people that benefit from the current system are criminals

[tiggity]

Re: My problem with Digital ID...

@James Anderson

Strange - never had credit rating as a form of ID in UK - always needed passport, driving licence, utility bills at address type of thing.

I imagine I would struggle on credit rating as I currently have no credit card, no loans (including no mortgage*) etc.

* I was (with my partner) part of a mortgage but that was over 10 years ago now so an eternity in credit rating terms. Doubtless will have to get a mortgage at some point as current house far from ideal especially as we get older, so a move to somewhere less remote (& so less cheap) will be needed at some point but house is adequate & we enjoy not having mortgage outgoings to worry about.

[TheMaskedMan]

Good riddance to digital ID - for now. But this has been a pet project of the Home Office for a long time, so I don't expect it's gone very far away. No doubt there will be pressure to resurrect it, and, if Burnham resists, he will be replaced in fairly short order.

So, now we have a Minister for AI. It will be interesting to see how qualified they are to understand their subject - not at all, I expect.

[pimppetgaeghsr]

A cheap win for King in the Norf. Taking on Labours improving stats which were poorly publicised on immigration and NHS wait times, and capitalising on Starmers unpopularity. Still a long way to go to the next election. I doubt his honeymoon period will last until parliament reconvenes.

[elsergiovolador]

Wait time is a poor metric of success. For anecdotal evidence, I had my specialist appointment cancelled recently. I've been waiting for it for 2 years. No news about new date. I am sure it makes the wait list look better.

What about outcomes?

The immigration stats are not an evidence it was a direct action of the government. More likely migrants saw for themselves how shite things are and changed their mind.

Labour also have not scrapped Skilled Worker Visa bonanza - basically a subsidy for corporations at the expense of British workers (why hire a local if you can import an immigrant for fraction of the market rate wage).

[pimppetgaeghsr]

Good point. Burnham has not made any promises to fix any of that. So more of the same.

[Charlie Clark]

Illegal migration into the EU is down. This is the main reason for lower illegal migration into the UK, but Starmer should also be given credit for patching up relations with the French, making it a little easier to reduce the boats from there.

[jonesp]

Irregular not illegal please.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Yay

ditching digital ID

Well for a few months until the home office has twisted whoever gets to be minister there to their way of thinking, and then showing him the blackmail details so he/she can goto the PM and say "Digital ID is a great idea, and if you dont think so, well a few well placed leaks will happen..."

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Yay

I expect Blair will also have a word or two with Burnham

[Anonymous Coward]

Rumour has it

A well dressed spiv was seen outside No 10 asking for any bungs that might be spare.

“If you’re saving £1.8B, you must have the odd £5M?”

[Phil Kingston]

I could bring this in by Q4, for less than $10 million I reckon. Maybe another 5 for contingency.

Rename passports to "Passport with Digital ID"

Done. Home in time for tea and medals.

Bolt any extra links with other government systems as BAU further down the track.

[jonesp]

More work for Brits

Then Brits will have to get used to doing the lengthy verify-your-identity routine with a smartphone for each provider.

I have already seen steps 1 to 5 below required for Companies House. And for Barclays Bank. And for NHS Login password reset with a lost mobile number plus a lost email address. And for a solicitor for a house sale.

1) Install the required App if it is not already built in to the current App.

2) Take a photo of both sides of a driving licence, or the photo page of a British or Irish passport.

3) if using a passport, enable NFC and scan the chip in the passport.

4) Confirm the details obtained from steps 2 and 3.

5) Hold the phone in front of the face and wait for the coloured flashes from the screen.

The list is just going to get longer.

Inefficient. Duplication of effort. More expense.

The Danish are onto their second generation of government run digital ID now.

But Brits don't want that, do they? Do something once centrally and make it convenient? No, Brits want to repeat the effort in lots of different places instead.

I have seen the Danish discuss similar concerns as here. But then they also say, the British are irrational on ID, ignore everything they say about it.

.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Money from thin air

The BBC reports...

"The government's decision to cut VAT from household electricity bills will be funded by the cancellation of the digital ID programme"

The rate will go down from 5% to 0% in October.

Note that they have not said it's being abolished. Which means the original legislation/regulation for VAT on electricity will stay in place and they can reintroduce it just as easily.

The other interesting thing is the £1.8billion for ID cards is money that was supposed to come from savings made across various departments, not money that has already been realised.

[PC Load 6EQUJ5]

Now we just

Need to revert that horrible Apple update that cripples your phone if you refuse to hand over your biometric ID. And by the way, STILL won't work in the Channel Islands resulting in all sorts of problems.

[Anonymous Coward]

He's barely through the door and the Beeb are already trying to stir up shit to get him out in a year or two by talking up non-arguments over funding a measly 45 quid in the annual cost of living (I concede, it's more for lower earners). The Conservatives chummed the water with the revolving door of PMs and now the media of all stripes have a taste for flexing their ability to focus on trivial *shit* at the expense of important policies.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

The £45 saved will almost certainly be swallowed up by price rises on the supply side in the next few months, especially if Trump continues his middle east adventure. It's a very small sum when you compare it to the price of fuel. I doubt you can fill up the tank of a small car for that amount

[Jellied Eel]

The £45 saved will almost certainly be swallowed up by price rises on the supply side in the next few months, especially if Trump continues his middle east adventure. It's a very small sum when you compare it to the price of fuel. I doubt you can fill up the tank of a small car for that amount.

On the plus side, The King in the North has already said he'll start exploiting the North Sea oil & gas again. Kinda handy when there's a bit of an oil crisis on the go. Snag is lack of refinery capacity. But Millibrain's no longer Energy Minister and will instead be collecting more air miles. Burnham does seem to realise that UK energy costs are a problem for both cost of living and the economy in general though.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

"collecting more air miles"

I expect some greenwashing announcement about carbon offsetting/tree plantation will be on the FCO tweeter feed to accompany his flights

[Anonymous Coward]

Could that be because backwards looking Burnham has only seen fit to announce trivial *shit*, as you call it?

Said he was going to hit the ground running with major announcements from day one - well where are they?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just Thinking About The Meta "Smart" Glasses......................

Please JUST FORGET "digital id"...............................

Just think about Wayne Couzins wearing Meta "Smart" glasses:

(1) Clicks on your face somewhere in the street

(2) Picture goes to a face recognition database (like DVLC licence or Home Office passport)

(3) Wayne now knows your name, your address and the names of anyone living at the same address

(4) Wayne's Apple iPhone now writes down the time, the GPS location, and items from #3

Then Wayne follows you to your car:

(5) Clicks on the car license number

(6) Picture goes to DVLC, and now the Apple iPhone can update the data in #4

...and so on....employer data, work location.........................

...NO! No need to worry about "digital id"...............the STASI IS ALREADY here!

[TangoDelta72]

PWEI strikes again - 36 years later

Echoes of the past, I'm afraid. If only they'd gotten as big as.... oh, who am I kidding.

I bolded some text below to keep on topic. Sing along if you know the tune.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

City Zen citizens walking past

Head down, heading for nowhere fast

Keeping ahead, keep business busy

Making bizarre schemes to make us dizzy

Now I don't know what's right or wrong

I'm too rapped up in philosophical song

But we can offer our guidance, proffer our suss

Stepping stone to a collective consciousness

No ID cards, no poll tax

When you score own goals, you need new backs

We've no time for brackets or boxes or cages

You're listening to the rock of ages

Caught you on the dancefloor, trousers down

Dancing to the ugliest sound around

From City Zen to the powers that be

You got T-R-O-U-B-L-E