Britain’s incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to scrap the government’s digital identity scheme after assuming office on Monday, a spokesperson for the new Labour leader said.
The spokesperson said resources earmarked for the project would instead be redirected to Burnham’s priorities, including measures to help tackle the cost of living.
Burnham, elected leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, will become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade when he succeeds Keir Starmer on Monday.
The former Greater Manchester mayor has pledged to curb the rise of the right-wing Reform UK party, which has led opinion polls by a wide margin.
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Starmer unveiled plans in September for every employee to hold a digital identity document as part of efforts to tackle illegal migration and counter Reform UK. However, following a public backlash, the government dropped plans to make the scheme compulsory in January.
“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.
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimated in November that the digital ID scheme would cost about £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) between the 2026/27 and 2028/29 financial years.
The scheme had drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, with a cross-party committee of lawmakers describing it as a “fiasco”.
Opposition Conservative lawmaker Julia Lopez criticised the move, saying: “Labour have wasted millions of pounds on this project and now Andy Burnham is trying to pretend he’s riding to the rescue.”
Britain abolished identity cards after the Second World War, and citizens typically use passports or driving licences to verify their identity.
