Andy Burnham after being formally confirmed as the new leader of the Labor Party at a special meeting held at the Trades Union Congress in central London. Photo date: Friday, July 17, 2026 (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
Yui Mok – Pa Images | Pa Images | Getty Images
Britain’s next leader, Andy Burnham, will signal when he takes office that he intends to scrap government plans for a digital ID system and focus resources on household issues such as the cost of living, allies have said.
Burnham, who was nicknamed the “King of the North” for his work as mayor of Greater Manchester in northwest England, will replace Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday and said he would also announce his top ministerial team at the time.
Burnham’s office said one of the first things he will do is cancel plans to require all employees to have digital identification. The plan was designed to combat illegal immigration, but has been deemed a “colossal failure” by a bipartisan committee of lawmakers.
Starmer dropped the ID requirement in January following criticism.
I want to refocus my resources.
A Burnham spokesperson said in a statement: “All the time and resources that would have been spent on the national ID system will instead be directed to where it is needed most, including cost of living assistance.”
After World War II, ID cards were abolished in the UK, and Britons typically use documents such as passports and driving licenses to prove their identity.
In November, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated the cost of a digital ID system between the 2026/27 and 2028/29 financial years to be around £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion).
Opposition Conservative MP Julia Lopez said: “Labour has wasted millions of pounds on this project and now Andy Burnham is trying to pretend he’s on the way to the rescue.”
Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader and Burnham ally, said that while the savings from abolishing the scheme may not be huge, the move was “one small example of reprioritising”.
“This is an opportunity to reset, refresh and perhaps look at things that are not only taking away resources but also distracting from the government’s priorities,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Laura Kuenssberg programme.
In an interview with the BBC and Sky News, Mr Powell declined to discuss other policies or details of Burnham’s team, but said he would stick to the previous government’s commitments on new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged not to issue new licenses but to respect existing licenses, including for two Scottish oil and gas fields – Rosebank and Jackdaw – which were approved by the regulator but overturned in 2025 after a legal challenge.
He also said the government had powers to take “special measures” against struggling water companies such as Thames Water. Let’s see if the government will do that,” she told Sky News.
