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 Starmer spent the past year championing. His government pitched digital identity as a way to crack down on illegal working, held closed-door meetings on how to build it, and fought off privacy campaigners. "One of the first things this government will do is put its focus where people need it right now: creating breathing space and delivering change they can feel in their everyday lives," a Burnham spokesperson said. "That means 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." Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell echoed that message on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, saying the savings were "not an insignificant amount" but arguing the bigger benefit was freeing up the machinery of government to focus elsewhere. Quite how much money that actually means remains unclear. In November 2025, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated [PDF] its cost at about 1.8 billion between 2026-27 and 2028-29, although the government repeatedly ducked questions on that point, leaving Parliament and the public to speculate about the eventual bill. The initial proposal looked rather more ambitious than the version Burnham is now consigning to history. Starmer's original "Brit Card" plan called for a compulsory digital credential containing a worker's name, nationality, date of birth, residency status, and photograph, which ministers said would make it harder for people without the right to work to find employment. Privacy campaigners immediately piled in, with the Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, and others warning that Britain was drifting toward a national identity system by another name, raising concerns over surveillance, data collection, and mission creep. The criticism forced a rethink. In October 2025, ministers dropped the compulsory element, saying the scheme would be voluntary and that existing documents, such as passports, could continue to be used to verify identity. Burnham appears to have concluded that even the watered-down version wasn't worth saving. Digital identity may be headed for the bin, but AI is getting promoted. According to plans reported by The Sunday Times, Burnham will elevate a minister for artificial intelligence to Cabinet rank for the first time. The role is expected to focus on driving AI adoption across government while supporting Britain's AI industry, with details of the minister's departmental home due next week. "I want Britain to be one of the great technology countries of the world," a Burnham spokesperson told the newspaper. "Building the companies, the jobs and the industries that come with that. That's exactly why the minister for AI belongs in Cabinet." The message from the new government seems clear enough: don't expect a Brit Card in your wallet any time soon, but do expect AI to turn up in just about every Cabinet meeting. (R)