The UK national digital ID is dead, long live the UK digital ID!

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is scrapping the national digital ID plan set out by his predecessor Kier Starmer.

A spokesperson for Burnham said the reversal is intended to allow the government to refocus time and resources on other priorities, referring specifically to the cost of living in comments to The Guardian.

Shadow Technology Secretary Julia Lopez claimed in comments quoted by the BBC that millions of pounds has been wasted on the project already, and claimed her Conservative Party was responsible for Starmer backtracking on his initial statements that the UK national digital ID would be mandatory. Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart said it would be a relief to UK residents that they will not have to “hand over their data just to go about their daily lives,” and that the budget for the project was “obscene.”

Think tank the Institute for Government writes that Starmer’s approach “was a lesson in how not to approach policy making,” and attributes its failure, at least in part, to a “poor policy process.”

The failed Britcard project under former Labour PM Tony Blair which dogged Starmer’s proposal was one of Burnham’s first major responsibilities as a Member of Parliament. He warned when Starmer made his announcement that “it consumed a lot of air time and it didn’t actually materialize.”

The Institute notes that there are roughly 60 people in government working on the UK’s digital ID, plus three departments involved in the scheme. The Cabinet Office is responsible for it since last October, DSIT is responsible for the OneLogin public services single sign-on (SSO) service and governance of the DVS Trust Framework, while the Home Office is responsible for immigration – control of which was the initially-stated goal of the plan.

Back to square 2

But what of the GOV.UK wallet and DVS Trust Framework?

The Institute for Government presumes that the digital ID wallet is still coming, and that right to work checks will be completed through digital ID, but one issued by a private-sector provider, rather than the government.

The Government Digital Service remains at work on the GOV.UK wallet, UK lawyer and digital identity expert Richard Oliphant points out, as a place to store verifiable credentials and maybe a mobile (or “digital”) driving licence (mDL).

“This workstream is separate from the proposal for the national digital ID scheme, he notes. “I have seen no suggestion that the GOV UK Wallet (+VCs) will be scrapped, and nor should it be. The UK, like other countries, must embrace trustworthy, cryptographic VCs for proving age, identity and eligibility in transactions and interactions – both online and in-person.”

Oliphant compares Starmer’s effort to former PM Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax in terms of its political unpopularity in a LinkedIn post, but does not see the work that proceeded his digital ID announcement as in danger.

Private sector digital ID services are already in use, and the UK Digital Verification Services (DVS) Trust Framework gained statutory footing with the passage of the Data (Use and Access) Act in December, back when it was known as the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF).

Ultimately, Oliphant argues the government needs to pivot to proactive promotion of digital verification services for the financial sector and other key sectors, and ensure private-sector providers can use whatever credentials the government issues the same as GOV.UK wallets.

Article Topics

DVS Trust Framework  |  GOV.UK Wallet  |  national ID  |  Richard Oliphant  |  UK digital ID