MANCHESTER, England — When Andy Burnham steps into the role of British prime minister on Monday, one of his first moves will be to cancel the government’s struggling digital ID program, according to a spokesperson for the incoming Labour Party leader.
The spokesperson said funds and staff previously committed to the program — which a cross-party panel of lawmakers called a “fiasco” — will be shifted toward Burnham’s other priorities.
Burnham was chosen as leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, making him Britain’s seventh prime minister in just ten years. He takes over from the widely unpopular Keir Starmer.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester has made it a central goal to counter the rise of Reform UK, the right-wing populist party that has held a commanding lead in British opinion polls.
It was Starmer who first introduced the digital ID initiative back in September, proposing that every worker in Britain carry a digital identity document as a way to address illegal immigration and blunt Reform UK’s political momentum. Following a significant public backlash, Starmer walked back the mandatory requirement in January.
Burnham’s spokesperson framed the cancellation as a matter of redirecting resources: “All the time and resource that was going to be spent on a national ID scheme will go instead to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living.”
The financial watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, estimated in November that the digital ID program would have cost approximately £1.8 billion — roughly $2.4 billion — between the 2026/27 and 2028/29 financial years.
The decision drew criticism from the opposition. Julia Lopez, a lawmaker with the Conservative Party, pushed back on the move, saying, “Labour have wasted millions of pounds on this project and now Andy Burnham is trying to pretend he’s riding to the rescue.”
Identity cards have not been used in the United Kingdom since they were abolished following World War Two. British residents generally rely on passports and driver’s licenses to verify their identities.
