Commons Chamber

Tuesday 10th March 2026

(began 2 hours, 21 minutes ago)

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None Portrait Q10. What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT for the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland. (908186)
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Sorry I think.
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None Portrait Ministerial statement: Digital ID: Public Consultation Announcement
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, the government is launching a national conversation on how we
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Darren Jones Portrait Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, Minister of State (Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister) (Bristol North West, Labour)
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will build and use digital ID as the means to access public services digitally on your mobile phone or digitally on your mobile phone or computer. Public services are meant to be there for you at the most important moments of your life. important moments of your life. Free childcare hours to help your children get a good start in life. Getting your passport to go on your first holiday. Passing your driving test and getting your first driving licence. Asking for help if you lose your job or receiving your State Pension in retirement.

But today, as the House knows, it is often too hard to get what you need when you need it. The current legacy system of call centres, paperwork, and the need to tell your story multiple times to different parts of government. With hours on hold and not knowing where you are in the process is not good enough. I want to change that and this government will. In its place, we will build a truly modern Britain where public services work for the citizen.

New digital public services that come together on the Gov.uk app so that help is there when you need it most. To do that, government needs to build the foundations for these new modern public services. And that is exactly what this digital ID system is for. It will be free to access for anybody who wishes to use it, and it will be built on three core principles. First, it must be useful. It needs to be easier than the old telephone and paper based systems.

Second, it must be secure. You will have more control over what data you share, and we expect nothing less than the level of security protections provided by banks for online banking services. And it must be for everyone. We will not leave people behind, and the government will help those who are less confident with technology or don't have other forms of ID, like a passport with a digital ID. Citizens will be able to log into the Gov.uk app and then, crucially, prove who they are.

But unlike an ordinary login, the digital ID will work across different government departments and services, bringing those all together in one place in the gov.uk app so that the public can access all the services they need in one place. This is different to building one giant government IT system. That is not what we are doing. Services will remain on separate IT systems in their relevant departments and the NHS app and citizens health data will always remain separate. But the Gov.uk app and digital ID will over time, bring all other public services into one app on your mobile phone.

The front door to modern public services. Mr. speaker, this won't be a new experience for citizens. The public already used these systems every day, from banking to shopping, and other countries are already far ahead of us, from Denmark and Estonia to Australia and India. Britain is having to catch up. It is an issue of convenience and efficiency, Mr. Speaker, but it is also one of fairness and equality. We all know who the status quo often favours those with the resources, the headspace, perhaps the pointy elbows or the pushiness to get themselves to the front of the queue or to play the system.

But public services are meant to be there when people need them most, and it is, quite frankly, an outrage how the legacy system has sometimes treated people in these stressful or difficult situations, piling them up with bureaucracy and without the help they need. And who is it then, that struggles to fill in these forms, or correctly lack the form of ID that's required? Who are the 1 in 7 people across the UK who don't have a passport? It is often the strivers juggling work and caring responsibilities.

Mr. speaker, this government believes that everybody deserves a fair shot, and it is up to government to give people the support and a leg up when they need it. So today, we're launching this national conversation to discuss how we build and use a digital ID. We want to know where frustrations exist with the current legacy system, and which services could be made easier via the Gov.uk app. Later today, I will share a prototype of how a digital ID could work that shows how government by app could become a reality, joining up different departments and services so that the public don't have to do the work themselves.

In the initial stages, the digital ID system will start by making it easier to complete simple administrative tasks like proving your right to work when you start a job. Other tasks such as paying your car tax or ordering a passport, or sorting your childcare entitlements, will become part of that same app over time. Mr. speaker, I understand that the idea of a digital ID has sparked significant public interest, so I have instructed my department to make sure that this consultation goes further than any other consultation that government has done before.

Therefore, as part of this public consultation, which is now live right now, we will also be inviting a representative sample of the public at large from all walks of life and parts of the country to form a people's panel. This deliberative democracy process builds on our experience of supporting parliaments citizens assembly on net zero. In the last Parliament, working with over 100 citizens, we will debate the difficult questions, find ways forward and build a system that can secure the trust and support of everyone.

Mr. speaker, for members chuntering from a sedentary position about having a conversation with the public, I say, what do you fear? We're very happy to talk to the public about what the government is doing, and I look forward to talking to hon. Member's constituents if they're selected to be part of this process. Mr. speaker, I understand that this will not be for everyone. I hope that the services we will build will be so good that most people will wish to use them. But for those who don't, I want to make sure that help is on hand in your local community.

That's why the rollout of digital ID will also be accompanied by a digital inclusion drive to help people access and use these services. I don't come to Parliament today with preconceived answers, and we will, of course, to make sure that any future scheme is value for money. But I am interested to hear ideas about how we might use the people and the buildings we support already through public expenditure to help those people in their communities, local post offices or postal workers, libraries or jobcentres so that we may be able to ensure that the majority of people, if they need it, can access digital assistance to access these services.

And for those who really don't wish to, traditional routes will of course, still be made available. Mr. speaker, Right Honourable and hon. Members across the House know by the end of this Parliament it will be mandatory to digitally check your right to work when starting a new job. It is currently a legal requirement for employers to check the new employee has a legal right to work in the United Kingdom, but this often paper based approach of photocopying or scanning a passport or utility bill without further checks is vulnerable to fraud, and it does not create a clear record of when and where checks have been carried out for enforcement agents to know.

That is why the Prime Minister, Prime Minister, has asked for these existing checks to now be conducted digitally by the end of this Parliament. It will still be still be the employer's responsibility, but employees will be able to choose between using a government digital ID, as we're setting out today, or using a passport or visa and alternative methods if they wish. For individuals, it will be easier and quicker to demonstrate your right to work for businesses. It will streamline and reduce the cost of compliance reporting, and for the Home Office, it will create a digital audit trail of where checks have been carried out to support enforcement in those areas where they have not, and to deter those who think that it is too easy to work illegally in the United Kingdom.

Mr. speaker, this is by its nature quite a technical consultation, but it is also a deeply political one. When the public voted for change, they also voted for better public services. And this is what Labour governments at their best are all about building new, innovative public services to support opportunity for all rather than just the privileged few. From the NHS in the 1940s to the Open University in the 1960s, to the surestart centres of the 2000 today, Mr. Speaker, we are continuing that proud Labour tradition by building modern digital public services that extend opportunity and support for people when they need it.

This is in stark contrast to those political parties who just wish to conserve the unacceptable status quo, or who offer to tear everything down and leave you on your own, Mr. Speaker. We want people across Britain to want this system. We want them to be a part of it, and we want them to have an opportunity to shape it. This consultation is that opportunity. I look forward to members across the House and our constituents taking part. Can I thank my hon.

Friend the Member for Makerfield for his work on this issue to date, and my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North for all the work he is now going to do to make this a reality. And for which I will take the credit and he will take the blame if it goes wrong. And, Mr. Speaker, may I commend this statement to the House?
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Mike Wood Portrait Mike Wood MP (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, Conservative)
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Jim Shannon Minister Mike Wood. >> Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for sight of his statement and for the briefing a statement and for the briefing a short time ago. Mr. speaker, it is said that in 1720, gullible investors were invited to put their money into a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is. Today, the Chief Secretary appears to be reviving that proud tradition. For months, his department has insisted that digital ID was absolutely essential and until a few weeks ago, it had to be mandatory, even for babies.

But after months of insisting the scheme was indispensable, the government is now asking the public to tell them just what it is indispensable for. There was a time when this was supposed to be the magic bullet to tackle illegal migration. Now, the Cabinet Office seems to be suggesting it might just help reduce hold time on government call centres. Mr. speaker, this great undertaking has gone from promising the elixir of eternal youth to the equivalent of well, you never know, it might help if you have a slightly upset tummy, but the public know snake oil when they are offered it.

We shouldn't be surprised because this never was a thought through policy. It was always a distraction stunt. For years, officials have been looking at the ideal ID file on the shelf, hoping for a government desperate enough to pick it up. And last September, they finally found one. Desperate for an announcement to shove Andy Burnham off the front pages before a tricky Labour conference. And by the way, how did that turn out? The Prime Minister dusted off this scheme with no clear idea how it would work, what it would cost, or what the consequences would be.

And after one of the government's many U-turns, the Chief Secretary now assures us this digital ID will not become compulsory. Mr. speaker, nothing is ever compulsory until it suddenly is, because we know how this story goes. At first is voluntary, then it becomes strongly encouraged. Then you discover you needed to open a bank account and see your GP, and before long, your phone battery dies while you're in the queue. Acosta you're essentially a non-person. Sorry, sir. No flat white for you.

Computer says you no longer exist. No wonder, no wonder. Even the Health Secretary wants nothing to do with this particular headline. Of course, the government tells us not to worry because the system will be secure. This is the same government that can't even keep its own Budget secret. And how much confidence can the public really have that their personal data won't be misused? When the Minister responsible for this scheme, this time last week had to resign after reports that he hired a firm to spy on journalists who had written negative stories about his organisation, in November, the OBR put the cost of this boondoggle at £1.8 billion over three years, more than the cost of building and operating a new type 45 destroyer.

And nearly as dangerous, if not used properly, the OBR did not change that figure in last week's projections. And so we can assume that 1.8 billion remains the best estimate. And for what? Mr Speaker. Britain has managed perfectly well for centuries without a peacetime national identity system, as society functions, without system, without citizens having to authenticate themselves to the state every time they wish to open an app or go about their daily lives. So before we rush headlong into constructing the world's most elaborate digital clipboard, the government should recognise some serious concerns.

If their system fails, it will be expensive. If it's hacked, it will be dangerous. And if it expands, it will be intrusive. So what exactly is the overwhelming crisis in British life that requires all three? And until the government can answer that convincingly, the British public will view this proposal in exactly the same way they view most grand Whitehall technology schemes with deep suspicion. A modicum of mild amusement and a firm determination to keep their identity exactly where it belongs in their own pocket, not floating somewhere in the government's cloud.
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Lisa Smart Portrait Lisa Smart MP (Hazel Grove, Liberal Democrat)
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Lisa Smart Liberal Democrats. Speaker, and I am grateful to the Chief Secretary for advanced sight of his statement. But let's be clear about why we are here. Following collapsing public support, strong opposition from the Liberal Democrats, a petition signed by nearly 3 million people, including over 5000 of my Hazel Grove constituents, and significant unease expressed from Labour MPs. The government had no choice but to step back from a mandatory scheme. But in the spirit of being a constructive liberal opposition, we have some suggestions for the government if they want this scheme to have any level of public support whatsoever.

First, any digital ID scheme must never be mandatory. People should not be forced to turn over their data simply to go about their daily lives. We cannot and should not turn people into criminals. Just because someone is unable or unwilling to obtain one. Any scheme must genuinely assure privacy, with very clear legal limits and strong technical protections to prevent misuse or surveillance. Individuals must retain ownership and control of their own data. The data must not be reused, sold, or accessed beyond its original purpose.

The government should also give assurance on the decentralisation of any register. A single point of failure puts the personal details of millions at risk, which is unacceptable. Any scheme must also have a clearly defined purpose set out in law. We could not support a system that extends into different parts of our lives over time, without clear and unequivocal democratic approval. Robust safeguards are vital. Yes, it is about what this government wants to do, but it's also about what a potential future government may wish to do with the power such a scheme would present.

So could the Chief Secretary confirm that a digital ID scheme will never be mandatory, either for employment or to secure a home in the UK?
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