Keir Starmer is set to embark on his 13th major U-turn as mandatory Digital IDs are set to be scrapped as part of the planned 2029 rollout, GB news understands.
Labour is weighing up options to row back on a key part of its Digital ID scheme amid intense public fallout over the headline policy.
Amid public backlash, ministers are understood to be considering making the planned digital ID Right to Work checks voluntary rather than compulsory in 2029, per PoliticsHome and The Times.
“It’s hard to find a backbench MP who will advocate for mandatory digital ID in public, or a minister who will defend it in private,” a Labour MP said.
“Making it non-mandatory would take a lot of the heat out of the debate and allow everyone to focus on the benefits of choosing to have a digital ID, which are significant.”
It would add to the daunting tally of screeching U-turns executed by Labour since coming to power in July 2024, including changing course on tax rises, slashing winter fuel payments, welfare reforms and holding a grooming gangs inquiry.
Addressing the apparent retreat, a Government spokesman told the People’s Channel: “We are committed to mandatory digital right to work checks.”
“We have always been clear that details on the digital ID scheme will be set out following a full public consultation, which will launch shortly.
Keir Starmer is set to make a 13th major U-turn as mandatory Digital IDs are set to be scrapped
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“Digital ID will make everyday life easier for people, ensuring public services are more personal, joined-up, and effective, while also remaining inclusive,” they said.
A Whitehall source also told GB News the digital ID scheme may remain unchanged.
“Currently right to work checks are a mix of different systems, many of which are paper-based,” the source said, adding that this was “a weaker system” against international examples.
The insider said this “acts as a pull factor for people looking to come to the UK illegally for illegal working”.
Ministers are understood to be considering making the planned digital ID Right to Work checks voluntary rather than compulsory
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“We are still moving to a system of mandatory digital right-to-work checks, and consultation will look at the best technical way to do so. In practice, this could include a digital check of a passport or eVisa,” the source told The People’s Channel.
Reacting to the apparent decision, Nigel Farage hailed the Government’s apparent decision to drop mandatory elements from its digital ID scheme as a “victory for individual liberty”.
“Keir Starmer has abandoned plans for the Digital ID to be compulsory,” the Reform UK leader said.
“This is a victory for individual liberty against a ghastly, authoritarian government.
“Reform UK would scrap it altogether,” he promised.
The potential of yet another U-turn came just hours after Wes Streeting blasted Labour’s “excuses culture” and demanded an end to the Government’s retreat from key policy goals.
“This excuses culture does the centre-left no favours,” the Health Secretary said at an Institute for Government conference in central London.
He asked: “If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on Earth would they vote to keep us in charge?”
The revelation came just hours after Wes Streeting demanded an end to the Government’s retreat from key policy goals
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When asked if U-turns were slowing the Government down, Mr Streeting said: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.
“We love to hear it, and if people think we’re getting it wrong – and we think that they’re right – far better to do the right thing rather than to spare one’s political blushes.”
He said: “In the NHS, we have an initiative called Girft – get it right first time. That should be our New Year’s resolution for 2026 – let’s try and get it right first time.”
“Where there aren’t levers, we build them; where there are barriers, we bulldoze them.
“If people in charge aren’t up to the job, we replace them with the best and the brightest,” the Health Secretary added.
Watch the moment a GB News guest scoffed in derision at Sir Keir Starmer’s latest ill-received ploy to deter migrants from entering Britain.
The Government received an embarrassing reception on the People’s Channel while guests discussed Labour’s first migration-focused TikTok account.
The channel, Secure Borders UK, will be launched today, packed with images and videos of the arrest, detainment and deportation of illegal migrants and foreign criminals.
Currently, the official Home Office account has a total of 303 followers, having posted a single video with a comment section full to the brim of mockery and snide quips by critics.
In the one video posted, dramatic music soundtracks a series of clipped-up footage showing immigration enforcement officers raiding homes and businesses alike and carrying out arrests of those thought to be residing in the UK illegally.
The profile will seek to showcase the UK Government’s work to tackle illegal migration and restore order and control to our borders.
But former editor of the Sunday Express, David Wooding, simply guffawed at the Prime Minister’s plan, which comes as part of Downing Street’s crackdown on illegal labour across Britain.
He told GB News: “When Keir Starmer became Prime Minister or when he wanted to become Prime Minister, he told us there’d be no more gimmicks and no more stunts to stop the boats, unlike the Tories.
In the video posted, dramatic music soundtracks a series of clipped-up footage showing immigration enforcement officers raiding homes and businesses
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“And then we had what? Smash the gangs. Nothing came of that.
“And now the latest wheeze from Labour is to set up a TikTok account called, which is laughable as well.”
But Mr Wooding is not alone in his mockery of the latest bid to tackle the small boats crisis bearing a great weight on the shoulders of Labour Ministers.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is yet another pathetic gimmick that won’t work.
David Wooding hit out at Labour’s ‘laughable’ decision
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“The idea that putting some posts on TikTok will stop illegal immigrants is laughable — just like the Government’s previous gimmick to smash the gangs.
“The Labour Government is putting illegal channel immigrants up in hotels, allowing rampant illegal working and allowing 95 per cent of them to stay.
“No wonder they continue to flood in, with numbers surging since Labour came to power.
“The only way to stop this is to leave the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) so every single illegal immigrant can be deported within a week of arrival with no court cases and no messing around. Then the crossings would pretty soon stop.”
Latest Government figures indicate that enforcement visits and arrests soared to their highest-ever level since records began back in 2019.
Across businesses like nail salons, car washes and barbers, Labour boasted that 12,791 of such visits took place last year, a 57 per cent jump on 2024.
Meanwhile, 8,971 people were detailed across the course of 2025, marking an increase of almost 59 per cent of the year before.
However, 1,087 of those arrested have been deported from Britain.
In a statement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “There is no place for illegal working in our communities. That is why we have surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history, so illegal migrants in the black economy have nowhere to hide.
“I will stop at nothing to restore order and control to our borders.”
