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United Kingdom Government

Next UK Prime Minister Drops Digital ID Scheme (reuters.com) 46

Reuters reports: Incoming British prime minister Andy Burnham will scrap the government's troubled plans for a digital ID scheme when he enters office on Monday, a spokesperson for the new Labour Party leader said. Resources devoted to the scheme, deemed a "fiasco" by a cross-party committee of lawmakers, will be redirected to Burnham's priorities, the spokesperson said...

"All 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," Burnham's spokesperson said. In November, the Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog estimated the cost of the digital ID scheme at around £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) between financial years 2026/27 and 2028/29.

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Next UK Prime Minister Drops Digital ID Scheme

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    That's like the Hitler/Soviet "papers please!"
  • by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @06:34PM (#66245486)

    This is good news. Fiasco is the perfect description for the very idea of that national ID scheme.

    But, I am keenly interested to hear how exactly he plans to address the cost of living situation. Contrary to what most people seem to think, national/global economics aren't fixed with a stroke of the pen. It's complex as fuck and rife with unintended consequences. I simply hope that he doesn't make matters worse. Again.

    • Between this and the VPN U-turn I'm pretty optimistic. Not so convinced on the housing improvement idea suspect that'll fall flat like so many of the previous have sadly.
    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      he would be different from starmer in that, or in anything else for that matter: after two weeks of confident oratory performance, empty promises and distractions the shiny new will drift back into the same creepy old rhetoric: ukraine, the russians are coming. the digital id is definitely coming, eventually. he won't even have to be co-opted, he's already the next hand picked stooge from the pool.

      like every of the half dozen pms before him one of his very first proclamations should emphasize his rock solid

      • by tragedy ( 27079 )

        creepy old rhetoric: ukraine, the russians are coming.

        That's a very weird thing to say. Among other things, how is it "old". That war is going on right now. Russia is still attempting to invade and holding Ukrainian territory, etc.

        • by znrt ( 2424692 )

          how is it "old"

          in the sense that it is the same opening bs starmer, sunak and truss made. it's some kind of obligatory oath. and boris, who fully (and frantically) dedicated himself to make sure that there was an actual war, and that it didn't stop.

          Russia is still attempting to invade and holding Ukrainian territory, etc.

          technically, territory mostly inhabited by russians that don't want anything to do with the ukranian nazism that was indiscriminately shelling them after calling them terrorists for wanting to secede from their nazi regime. and they're not "attempting" it, they're doing it, slo

          • Britain has a historical defence pact with Ukraine, which unlike Russia, it is actually honouring. An inconvenient truth is that without the very defence pact formed as part of the Budapest Memorandum (which resulted in Ukraine relinquishing its nuclear arsenal and the UK being duty bound to provide aid) every major Russian city would have probably been (very legitimately) nuked in self-defence by now. Thankfully, it's just a bunch of drones sabotaging Russian national infrastructure, and it could all end t
            • by znrt ( 2424692 )

              Britain has a historical defence pact with Ukraine, which unlike Russia, it is actually honouring.

              that defence pact is not infinite. it doesn't apply if there is a coup, heavy militarization and the threat to expand nato into ukraine, then actual war crimes by ukranians against other ukranians, then an all out civil war on the border. defence from whom? themselves? it's not how this works.

              it takes some gall to say britain honors ukraine's defence when they were actively involved in orchestrating the war, for years, in fueling it since it started, and in interfering in all attempts to shut it down (becau

              • by tragedy ( 27079 )

                that defence pact is not infinite. it doesn't apply if there is a coup, heavy militarization and the threat to expand nato into ukraine, then actual war crimes by ukranians against other ukranians, then an all out civil war on the border. defence from whom? themselves? it's not how this works.

                Sorry, can you point to any time limits or mentions of coups, militarization, NATO expansion, fights between Ukrainians, civil wars on the border, etc.? There are none. You're just making up ex post facto rules in your head to justify the war. Not to mention making up stuff about coups, heavy miltarization, etc. The supposed Civil wars on the border also aren't really civil wars when they're actually covert Russian operations. All the people behind them were GRU agents, Russian citizens, FSB agents, Russian

                • by znrt ( 2424692 )

                  Sorry, can you point

                  we'll have to agree to disagree on almost everything, discussions on these one-sided views are tiring and rather pointless. there are many to be found in my posting history if you're interested, more than would be healthy, and btw you'll find there plenty of clear indicators about my origin and background too, which seems to be so important to you for some reason.

                  it's fine, we'll eventually see how matters unfold. the same as they have been unfloding for nearly a century now: war is a racket, like butler sa

                  • by tragedy ( 27079 )

                    we'll have to agree to disagree on almost everything, discussions on these one-sided views are tiring and rather pointless. there are many to be found in my posting history if you're interested, more than would be healthy, and btw you'll find there plenty of clear indicators about my origin and background too, which seems to be so important to you for some reason.

                    One sided views are indeed tiring and pointless. The problem here is that you are the one with the one sided view that simply favors Russian official propaganda over all else on this matter. Myself and others arguing your point are not actually taking a side. I am considering everyone's position in this and data from many sources and Russia basically always comes out in the wrong on this one.

                    As for your origins, it should be very simple to say whether you are Russian or not. It does make something of a diff

          • by tragedy ( 27079 )

            in the sense that it is the same opening bs starmer, sunak and truss made. it's some kind of obligatory oath. and boris, who fully (and frantically) dedicated himself to make sure that there was an actual war, and that it didn't stop.

            Uh... Huh? How was there not going to be a war? Russia was invading no matter what. Unless you mean that Ukraine should have just rolled over and are equivocating being conquered to "peace".

            technically, territory mostly inhabited by russians that don't want anything to do with the ukranian nazism that was indiscriminately shelling them after calling them terrorists for wanting to secede from their nazi regime. and they're not "attempting" it, they're doing it, slowly and methodically while still running their own country quite well against huge odds and no downing street clown can do anything about it, except talking bs and blaming russia for their own demise.

            Ok. So you're just a bit nutty then, and, for some strange reason making it about the UK rather than Russia and Ukraine.

            yes, indeed, but somehow brits are still buying it. meanwhile uk keeps sinking and that's somehow all russia's fault.

            I clearly meant that what you were saying was weird to say in part because you seemed to be putting words that they had not spoken into other people's mouths. You seem to have responded with another ver

    • I heard he is going to build one affordable house.
  • We actually need this in the UK because we donâ(TM)t have any other means of recognising who is allowed to work and who is not. This is why so many migrants are attracted to the UK from safe countries like France.

    The irony is that the people involved in running this program are the same people who have made the UK digital passport renewal process much easier, and therefore the chance is that it would be a digital white elephant are pretty minimal.

    Weâ(TM)ve got the need. Weâ(TM)ve got the work

    • Allow everyone to work. Simple, and also has the benefit of not being insanely authoritarian.
    • Isn't that what the immigration ARC ID cards are for? If you're a citizen by birth you'll have NI and most likely either a passport or drivers license, be. If you're a visa based immigration then you'll have a passport and a evisa which will state your right to work. You can also (for free) check the right to work of applicants using the government portal. We have so many ways already of proving right to work that it makes little sense to add yet another one at such a cost. The people that are employed and
    • Re:Foolish (Score:5, Informative)

      by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @09:39PM (#66245654) Homepage Journal

      >we don't have any other means of recognising who is allowed to work and who is not.

      Yes we do. It's called a share code. Get a visa and you no longer get a big sticker in your passport. You get status on a government computer. When someone asks you to prove that you are legit to work, you log in, get a share code and give to the person asking. They can log in, enter the share code and it will confirm or deny that you are legit to work based on you visa.

      I'm British. My wife is American. That is how I know.

      • I'm British. My wife is American. That is how I know.

        I'm American, do I need to get a British wife to also know? Honestly, it seems like an odd requirement for a particular piece of knowledge.

        • I'm British. My wife is American. That is how I know.

          I'm American, do I need to get a British wife to also know? Honestly, it seems like an odd requirement for a particular piece of knowledge.

          Yes. You do.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        >we don't have any other means of recognising who is allowed to work and who is not.

        Yes we do. It's called a share code. Get a visa and you no longer get a big sticker in your passport. You get status on a government computer. When someone asks you to prove that you are legit to work, you log in, get a share code and give to the person asking. They can log in, enter the share code and it will confirm or deny that you are legit to work based on you visa.

        I'm British. My wife is American. That is how I know.

        This... I AM the migrant who came over here to take your jobs (Australian, senior IT jobs not Deliveroo).

        You've got half a dozen ways to prove your rights to live and work in the UK from e-visas (formerly the BRP) and to the aforementioned share codes to a simple driving license (which you have to swap your foreign license for after 1 year of residency or you're driving unlicensed).

        I'm now a dual national so the passport does most of the heavy lifting these days.

        I'm not one of those anti-ID-"they'r

  • More insanity (Score:2, Insightful)

    by greytree ( 7124971 )
    Politicians who support high benefits for those not working should be the first to support measures to ensure the money goes to the people who deserve it.

    And yet they are always opposed to such measures.

    Why is that ?

    It's like the people who claim to support democracy opposing checks that the people voting are entitled to do so.
  • If you and I want to enter any kind of contract we have to uniquely know who each other are. If you don't have a single, national ID, I then have to know your name, date of birth, address, phone number, previous addresses, mother's maiden name etc so that I can uniquely identify you. And then we just assume companies need to know our slashdot id, sex, eye color, height, sexual orientation, weight...
    • by bjoast ( 1310293 )
      Worth mentioning as well, in regards to privacy, is that modern digital identity schemes can allow for granular disclosure of personal information datapoints, meaning their introduction can improve the privacy situation in many circumstances.
    • by liqu1d ( 4349325 ) on Saturday July 18, 2026 @08:16PM (#66245606)
      Bullshit. I've yet to encounter a contract where anything more than a passport or drivers license and NI number were required. Heck even security clearance only needed my NI and drivers license to get the ball rolling. It's a stupidly expensive replacement for systems we already have. If you're worried about handing over address information put tape on the DL card. £2 worth of tape is infinitely more productive than £2billion(UK IT so probably 10) of yet another ID standard.
      • Your drivers license has your Date of Birth, your address and probably a few more identifiers on it. Plus it is only available to people who pass a driving test. So it 1 gives up more privacy than you should give up, and it is not universally available. Those that don't have one will have to provide significantly more uniquely identifying information

        Unless your response was sarcasm?
    • Why do you feel the need to make up complete bullshit?

      If you think you need all of that to have a job here, then frankly you are completely deluded.

    • by jonwil ( 467024 )

      Here in Australia when I have gotten jobs in the past I had to show my government issued ID (I have one that has all the same ID verification as a drivers license but without the right to drive) and I had to give them my tax file number (the unique identifier tied to your data and details at the tax office and that the employer uses to handle income tax etc).

      I imagine the UK has similar systems (some kind of ID held with the tax office or similar government departments and a drivers license system or simila

  • They'll have to be satisfied with Analog ID

    • They'll have to be satisfied with Analog ID

      Well, lots of audiophiles feel that Analog is actually better than Digital! ;)

  • I am lucky to have experienced digital ID systems in a few European countries, and the only complaints are when the system is unavailable. They make life so much easier, especially when dealing with government services. Unfortunately, the UK has a problem with executing large projects. From HS2 to NHS IT, there is a severe lack of management capabilities in delivering large projects on time and within budget. Not all projects are like this, namely the London Olympics, which were a success and with very few
  • Some actual expertise and listening to actual experts is required to make things like this work. Politicians seem to generally be incapable of both.

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