‘The Starmer Paradox’ pits UK national digital ID plan against its stated purpose

If the enforcement of mandatory right to work (RtW) checks with digital ID will significantly reduce the flow of illegal migrants the UK, as PM Keir Starmer claims, then his plan should be abandoned in favor of the existing system. This is the position taken by legal consultant Richard Oliphant in a LinkedIn post.

Many observers have expressed skepticism that the digital ID plan will have an impact on illegal immigration to the UK, Oliphant points out. But any impact it does have would only come after the backing legislation – yet to be crafted, let alone introduced – receives Royal Assent. That will not happen, Oliphant says, before 2029.

Computer Weekly estimated earlier this month that the consultation process recently promised by DSIT will take about a year. Draft legislation could then reach Parliament in 2027, and the scheme implemented as soon as mid-2028.

Oliphant calls the “The Starmer Paradox.” If the PM’s critics are correct, the plan will not have its intended effect. If the PM is right about the problem, its urgency and solution, the government should turn to the 40-plus digital identity providers from the private sector already certified to perform digital RtW checks under the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), because they are ready to help now.

This piece of the ecosystem has been overlooked in commentary by the new proposal’s supporters like the Tony Blair Institute, Oliphant says.

All that is needed, according to Oliphant, is for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to expand the pertinent regulation. The supplementary code for digital right to work checks was published in June by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) and DSIT. The change would make the current RtW checks with DIATF-certified identity service providers, which currently provide a “statutory excuse” if any illegal workers are found on their payroll, serve the same function as Starmer’s proposed, government-issued digital ID.

The result, Oliphant says, would be a system much closer to the blueprint proposed by Oliphant at the beginning of the month, which “jettisons the word ‘mandatory’” and side-steps “cross-party opposition which will inevitably turn a toxic proposal into Kryptonite at the ballot box in 2029.”

Article Topics

BritCard  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  immigration  |  legislation  |  Richard Oliphant  |  UK digital ID