Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: As part of its plans to tackle illegal migration, the UK Government is going to make Digital ID mandatory in order to work in the country.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on September 26 that the new digital ID scheme would make it tougher to work in the UK illegally. “It will make our borders more secure,” he said and added, “It will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly – rather than hunting around for an old utility bill.”
However, opposition parties feel the proposals would not stop people crossing the Channel in small boats.
The Prime Minister set out his plans in a broader speech to a gathering of world leaders, in which he said it had been “too easy” for people to work illegally in the UK because the centre-left had been “squeamish” about saying things that were “clearly true”, reported BBC.
Addressing the Global Progressive Action Conference in London – attended by politicians including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney – Sir Keir said it was time to “look ourselves in the mirror and recognise where we’ve allowed our parties to shy away from people’s concerns”.
“It is not compassionate left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages,” he said.
“The simple fact is that every nation needs to have control over its borders. We do need to know who is in our country.”
In a conversation following his speech, Starmer said he wanted the next election to be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK. Reform UK said the public was “waking up to the fact Starmer is just continuing the Tory legacy of high taxes and mass immigration”. Despite having only five MPs, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has been leading in the opinion polls for several months.
When Tony Blair was the Prime Minister, the Labour Government had tried to introduce compulsory ID cards but the idea was scrapped by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2010.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the plan would “do nothing to stop the boats” but would “end up being used against law-abiding citizens while crooks walk free”, added the news agency.
