Digital ID cards to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer as illegal migration move branded 'profoundly dangerous'

However, opponents have described the scheme as “profoundly dangerous”, with Conservative former minister Sir David Davis saying claims that digital ID cards would deal with illegal migration were “misleading at best”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it was “opposed to the introduction of any card that is compulsory to have, compulsory to carry or that anyone can demand to see, including that of a digital ID”.

Under the plans, anyone starting a new job or looking to rent a home would be required to show the card on a smartphone app.

The digital card would then be checked against a central database of people entitled to live and work in the UK.

It is hoped this would reduce the attraction of working in the UK illegally, including for delivery companies.

Sir Keir is poised to announce the scheme as he faces calls from French President Emmanuel Macron for the UK to reduce “pull factors” for migrants to cross the English Channel.

A total of 1,157 people have arrived on small boats in the last week, according to Home Office statistics.

Sir Keir is due to speak at the Global Progress Action Summit in London alongside Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.

Earlier this month, Sir Keir said an ID card system could play an “important part” in stopping illegal migration.

He said things had “moved on” since the debate over ID cards during the last Labour government in the 2000s.

He had told the BBC: “We all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago, and I think that, psychologically, it plays a different part.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also previously been positive about the policy.

Sir David, who campaigned against their introduction during Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government, said: “While digital IDs and ID cards sound like modern and efficient solutions to problems like illegal immigration, such claims are misleading at best.

“The systems involved are profoundly dangerous to the privacy and fundamental freedoms of the British people.”

Sir David added: “No system is immune to failure, and we have seen time and again governments and tech giants fail to protect people’s personal data.

“If world-leading companies cannot protect our data, I have little faith that Whitehall would be able to do better.”

The UK has only previously had mandatory ID cards during wartime. The last tranche were scrapped in 1952.

Sir John Major’s government ran a consultation on reintroducing them in the 1995, but they were never brought in.

His successor, Sir Tony, then considered a voluntary ID card, but it was not fully rolled out amid objections from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

He has since repeated his call for their introduction after leaving office.

He was backed up by Labour campaign group Labour Together, which has been closely linked to Sir Keir and his government.

The think-tank published a 30-page document in June in favour of the Brit Card.

In the report, Labour Together said: “The Labour government has the opportunity to build a new piece of civic infrastructure, something that would become a familiar feature of daily life for everyone in the country.

“It would support better enforcement of migration rules, and protect vulnerable British citizens from being wrongly denied their rights.”

Last month Pat McFadden, the UK work and pensions secretary, said the model of Estonia, a country in which each citizen has their own identification number used for official documentation, healthcare, banking and taxes, should be used as an example.

The civil liberty group Big Brother Watch warned against the introduction of digital ID.

In a letter to Sir Keir on Wednesday, the group said: “Mandatory digital ID is highly unlikely to achieve the government’s objective of tackling unauthorised immigration.

“The proposed schemes fundamentally misunderstand the ‘pull factors’ that drive migration to the UK and would do very little to tackle criminal people-smuggling gangs or employers and landlords who operate ‘off the books’.

“Instead, it would push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows, into more precarious work and unsafe housing.”

Sir Ed Davey told the Liberal Democrat conference this week his party would need to properly “scrutinise” any details, but that it was not necessarily against the policy.

Responding to the ad-hoc poll during an event in Bournemouth, Sir Ed replied: “Times have changed, and that is why I am saying ‘let’s look at it’.” He added: “There are models that may answer our objections as liberals.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on X: “I am firmly opposed to @Keir_Starmer’s digital ID cards.

“It will make no difference to illegal immigration, but it will be used to control and penalise the rest of us. The state should never have this much power.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed the plans as a “gimmick that will do nothing to stop the boats”.

She said: “There are arguments for and against digital ID, but mandating its use would be a very serious step that requires a proper national debate.

“Instead, this is a throwaway conference announcement designed to distract attention from Andy Burnham’s leadership maneuverings and the crisis in Downing Street over the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

“The government has struggled to enforce its feeble one-in-one-out deal with France, which has turned into 100-in-1-out national embarrassment.

“Can we really trust it to implement an expensive national programme that will impact all of our lives and put additional burdens on law abiding people? I doubt it.”