Ditching his plans to make digital ID mandatory for workers in the UK is an almighty backtracking and dilution of one of the prime minister’s flagship policy ideas of the autumn.I remember the first time Sir Keir Starmer talked publicly about his plans, because he was talking to me when he did so.It was September, and we were sheltering from the pouring rain, in an outside metal stairwell next to a giant ship being built by BAE Systems on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow.What he had to say that day was rather overshadowed by the swirling storm around his then Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who 24 hours later was out of a job.What those around him were describing as “phase 2” of his government was already off to a bumpy start, but digital ID was seen as a defining idea of the parliament that the prime minister could own and then lean into the arguments it provokes with his opponents, within his party and beyond it.The thing is it provoked a lot of arguments, perhaps more than he had anticipated, including among some Labour MPs.It was the mandatory element that became the magnet for the stickiest criticisms.The idea cratered in popularity. It revived so many of the arguments that nuked the last Labour government’s plans for ID cards about two decades ago.The sense from critics of an overbearing state, a “show us your papers” society.So what have ministers done? They have junked the mandatory element of it.Peo …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnDitching his plans to make digital ID mandatory for workers in the UK is an almighty backtracking and dilution of one of the prime minister’s flagship policy ideas of the autumn.I remember the first time Sir Keir Starmer talked publicly about his plans, because he was talking to me when he did so.It was September, and we were sheltering from the pouring rain, in an outside metal stairwell next to a giant ship being built by BAE Systems on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow.What he had to say that day was rather overshadowed by the swirling storm around his then Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who 24 hours later was out of a job.What those around him were describing as “phase 2” of his government was already off to a bumpy start, but digital ID was seen as a defining idea of the parliament that the prime minister could own and then lean into the arguments it provokes with his opponents, within his party and beyond it.The thing is it provoked a lot of arguments, perhaps more than he had anticipated, including among some Labour MPs.It was the mandatory element that became the magnet for the stickiest criticisms.The idea cratered in popularity. It revived so many of the arguments that nuked the last Labour government’s plans for ID cards about two decades ago.The sense from critics of an overbearing state, a “show us your papers” society.So what have ministers done? They have junked the mandatory element of it.Peo …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
