UK scraps digital ID card scheme, redirects savings to energy bills

Andy Burnham, formally installed as UK prime minister on Monday, confirmed his administration is cancelling the digital identity card scheme his predecessor, Keir Starmer, introduced last year. The Burnham government said the money saved by scrapping the program will instead fund a tax cut meant to lower household electricity bills amid rising living costs. Newly appointed finance minister John Healy said the shift is intended to give households “breathing room on bills, and provide some reassurance this winter.”

Starmer had argued that state-issued digital IDs would help crack down on migrants working illegally in the UK and modernize access to government services. The national ID card system would have cost the government £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) over three years, though that figure came under dispute after it emerged the money to fund the scheme was allegedly never allocated.

Starmer announced his intention to resign as prime minister on June 22 and was formally replaced by Burnham on Monday.

The scheme had drawn fierce public opposition. Millions of Brits rejected the mandatory digital ID card plan, and a petition against it gathered close to 3 million signatures, making it the second-largest public parliamentary petition on record. Critics argued the cards would enable government surveillance of citizens.

The reversal echoes an earlier UK effort to roll out identity cards in the 2000s under the Tony Blair government, which was axed in 2011 after a new opposition-led coalition took power following a national election.

Why it matters

The about-face shows how quickly a change in UK leadership can unwind a signature policy, and how public petitions and privacy concerns can stop large-scale digital identity infrastructure before it’s built.