Britain’s Burnham ditches digital ID scheme to prioritize cost of living, allies say

Newly elected leader of the British Labor Party Andy Burnham. File | Photo credit: Reuters

Britain’s next leader, Andy Burnham, will scrap the government’s plans for a digital ID scheme when he takes office, signaling his intention to focus resources on kitchen-table issues such as the cost of living, his allies said.

Dubbed the “King of the North” for his job as mayor of Greater Manchester in northwest England, Burnham will replace Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday (July 20, 2026), when he says he will also unveil his cabinet team of senior ministers.

Mr Burnham’s office said one of his first steps would be to scrap a plan for all staff to hold a digital identity document, a scheme designed to tackle illegal migration but deemed a “fiasco” by a cross-party committee of lawmakers.

Mr Starmer dropped the demand to make the card compulsory in January after criticism.

Desire to redirect resources

“All the time and resources that have been spent on a national ID system will instead go where it is most needed, such as help with living costs,” Mr Burnham’s spokesman said in a statement.

Identity cards were abolished in the UK after World War II, and Britons usually use documents such as passports and driving licenses to prove their identity.

In November, the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility estimated the cost of the ‌ID system at around £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) between the 2026/27 and 2028/29 financial years.

“Labor have spent millions of pounds on this project and now Andy Burnham is trying to pretend he is going to the rescue,” said Julia Lopez, a lawmaker from the opposition Conservative Party.

Lucy Powell, deputy leader of the Labor party and an ally of Mr Burnham, said the savings from scrapping the system might not be large, but the move was “a small example of a shift in priorities”.

“This is an opportunity to reset, to refresh, to look at things that maybe not only take resources, but distract from the government’s priorities,” she told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg program on Sunday (July 19).

In interviews with the BBC and Sky News, Powell would not be drawn on other policies or details of Mr Burnham’s cabinet, but said she would stick to the previous government’s commitment to new oil and gas development in the North Sea.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged not to issue any new licenses but to respect existing ones such as the Rosebank and Kavka fields in Scotland, which were approved by regulators only to be canceled in 2025 after a legal challenge.

US President Donald Trump was quick to seize on the potential change, taking to his Truth Social platform to say “the people of Aberdeen, Scotland are dancing in the streets” because Mr Burnham “said he’s going to open up priceless oil from the North Sea all the way”.

In another area where Mr Burnham could act, Mr Powell also said the government had powers to put struggling water companies such as Thames Water into “special measures”. “We’ll see if the government does that,” she told Sky News.

Published – 20 Jul 2026 01:56 IST