‘We look stupid’: Furious Labour MPs hammer Starmer after latest shambolic U-turn on ID cards – as desperate PM turns to Lord Hermer in bid to cool mutiny

Keir Starmer is facing the wrath of Labor MPs today after carrying out his latest messy U-turn.

The Prime Minister has humiliatingly abandoned flagship plans to make digital ID cards mandatory for right-to-work checks.

Sir Keir had talked for months about the importance of this move to tackle illegal immigration; However, concerns were increasing that this move was not well-liked.

Backbenchers’ open mockery of the climb will raise doubts over Sir Keir’s future. Despite Sir Keir having one of the largest Commons majorities in history, the government has now made 13 significant U-turns on policies in just 18 months.

The decision then sparks the start of another awkward PMQ session for Sir Keir in the House of Commons.

He turns to his human rights lawyer friend Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, to defend his leadership.

Digital IDs will now be fully optional when they become available in 2029; Employees will be allowed to use other documents to digitally verify their identity.

Labor MP Karl Turner, who led a rebellion against government restrictions on jury trials, said a return to the issue was now ‘inevitable’

Labour’s Andy McDonald slams digital identity plan

Emma Lewell also openly celebrated the fall of the government

All other aspects of the program were determined on a voluntary basis; This means Britons will not have to adopt an official digital identity at all once it is implemented.

The Conservatives said Labour’s ‘only consistent policy was to retreat’, while the Liberal Democrats joked that Downing Street was ‘ordering mass motion sickness tablets’ to cope with so many changes of direction.

Announcing the plan on the eve of last year’s Labor Party conference, Sir Keir said people without a digital ID ‘will not be able to work in the UK’ in a bid to curb illegal immigration.

But support for digital identity collapsed following the announcement, falling from 53 percent in June to just 31 percent in October.

Labor MP Karl Turner, who led a rebellion against the government’s restrictions on jury trials, said a return to the issue was now ‘inevitable’.

‘Labour MPs should think very carefully before defending policy decisions in public. “This stuff really makes us look stupid,” he said.

Former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett said ministers ‘have not explained why this policy is important’.

Ministers have sought to argue that the details of the digital identity plan were always intended to be determined after consultation.

Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, who toured broadcast studios this morning, told Times Radio: ‘We will still have digital identity. Our mandatory digital right-to-work checks will continue. ‘The format of the digital ID… the nature of the material presented, could be the digital ID on someone’s phone… or another form of digital document containing evidence of your right to work.’

Asked whether digital ID would be mandatory, Ms Alexander said: ‘We are committed to introducing mandatory digital right-to-work checks.’

He added: ‘You say this is some kind of big U-turn; So we said we would do digital checks on people’s right to work, and that’s what we’re continuing to do.’

A government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to mandatory digital right-to-work checks.

‘Currently right-to-work checks involve a hodgepodge of paper-based systems with no check records made. This is open to fraud and abuse.

‘We have always been clear that the details of the digital identity plan will be determined following a comprehensive public consultation which will begin shortly.’

While the change leaves open the possibility that digital right-to-work checks could include other types of ID, the digital ID program will be entirely voluntary.

Sir Keir turns to fellow human rights lawyer Lord Hermer, the Attorney-General, to defend his leadership

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Labour’s only consistent policy is retreat, and the people are paying the price for a government defined by retreat.

‘Labour came into office without a plan and now lacks the backbone to stand behind its own decisions; he lurches from one U-turn to the next as the consequences of his choices become clearer.

‘The country is living with the effects of this weakness and many voters will wish they could make a U-turn on themselves by electing this failed Labor Government.’