Government exploring digital ID cards in bid to cut illegal migration and welfare fraud
6 June 2025, 11:31
Downing Street is looking into proposals that would give every adult in Britain a digital ID card in a fresh attempt to crack down on illegal migration and tackle fraud.
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Britain is currently the only country in Europe without an ID card system, but that could be about to change.
Now, senior Downing Street figures are reportedly looking “very closely” at plans for a new “BritCard”.
The card, stored on a smartphone, would be used to verify an individual’s right to live and work in the UK.
It would also be linked to government records, and be used to check entitlements to benefits and identify welfare fraud.
Those in favour of such a scheme argue it would send a clear signal that the UK is not 'a soft touch' on illegal migration, according to The Times.
Plans have now been put forward by have Labour Together, a pro-Starmer think tank.
It sent a paper to the No 10 policy unit to examine its proposals.
Under the plan, every adult would be required to “show” their card when taking up a new job or renting a property
The app would automatically check their right to work against government records.
A system would be used to cross-reference the stored identity against company tax records to identify firms with workers who had not completed checks.
Labour Together argues it would help to clamp down on the vast numbers of people overstaying their visas.
It claimed half of those whose asylum claims were rejected over the past 14 years are likely still to be Britain.
The report, published Friday, has called on Sir Keir Starmer to make digital identity a “top prime ministerial priority”.
It urges him to start a “fundamental transformation in the way British citizens interact with the government”.
The proposal has been backed by scores of Labour MPs.
It says it could cost up to £400m to build the system, with around £10m a year to roll it out as a free-to-use phone app.
The BritCard “should form an important part of Labour’s enforcement strategy that does not compromise our principles and values”, a foreword in the report reads.
It added that previous government’s “hostile environment” made very little difference to the overall migration figures while having a disproportionately harsh effect on those unfairly targeted.
“The Windrush scandal saw thousands of people wrongly targeted by immigration enforcement, including many legitimate British citizens who were unjustly detained or deported,” it reads.
“We believe that a progressive government does not have to choose between dealing with these injustices. It must tackle them all head on”
Morgan Wild, Labour Together’s chief policy adviser, said: “The state makes everyone, whether they are a British citizen or not, prove their right to work or rent.
“But we don’t give everyone with the right to be here the ability to prove it. That leads to discrimination, unjust deportation and, as happened in the worst Windrush cases, dying in a country that is not your own. Through a national effort to provide everyone with proof of their right to be here, BritCard can stop that from ever happening again.”
