Carole Malone has torn Sir Keir Starmer to shreds in the ongoing row over digital ID cards. The broadcaster raged against the government as it appeared poised to water down plans for a new mandatory digital identification system for right-to-work checks, aimed at cracking down on illegal working by migrants.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted on Wednesday it would still be compulsory to provide ID to prove a right to work in the UK, but she signaled this would no longer be limited to the new digital ID scheme unveiled by the prime minister last September. Malone told today's episode of the Daily Expresso podcast that no one wanted digital ID cards anyway, raging: “This is just another stupid, costly experiment by a prime minister and a government who have no clue what they're doing.”
“I just don't think ID cards are very British because what it says, essentially, is that you don't trust your own people and it changes the relationship you have with the state – it means you are, kind of, the property of the state.”
She said that Brits are born free, but if you are forced to have an ID card you become a number. The presenter added: “What bothers me just as much as that is that it will cost a lot of money and serve absolutely no purpose.”
Malone said Sir Keir's latest U-turn wouldn't win him votes at the ballot box as people wouldn't forgive being messed around.
She added: “I don't trust this government and this prime minister to respect the information (included on an ID card)… ID cards would have been another step down the authoritarian road we are heading down… This is another tool to put us under the cosh.”
Sir Keir replied that the government would still introduce checks to establish people are legally allowed to work in the UK, but he did not say this would only be limited to his digital ID scheme.
The reversal is the latest in a series of humiliating U-turns by the Labour Government, including last week's decision to provide extra support for pubs facing large hikes in business rates.
Labor has reversed course at least 13 times so farincluding by raising the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers after months of protest and scrapping a raft of benefits cuts under threat of a backbench revolt.
Government officials insisted they had always been clear details on the digital ID scheme would be laid out after a full public consultation, which is due to be launched shortly.
The change leaves open the possibility that the digital ID program would be entirely voluntary. When Sir Keir first announced the policy on the eve of last year's Labor Party conference, he said: “Let me spell it out: you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID.”