--- title: UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after... description: UK's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has scrapped a controversial digital ID card scheme proposed by his predecessor Keir Starmer. The program, which... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-scraps-plans-for-digital-id-cards-after-millions-of-brits-opposed-invemomcs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed | daily.dev og:description: UK's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has scrapped a controversial digital ID card scheme proposed by his predecessor Keir Starmer. The program, which... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-scraps-plans-for-digital-id-cards-after-millions-of-brits-opposed-invemomcs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/iNvemomCS.png og:image:alt: UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary UK's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has scrapped a controversial digital ID card scheme proposed by his predecessor Keir Starmer. The program, which would have cost £1.8 billion over three years, faced massive public opposition — nearly 3 million signatures on a parliamentary petition, the second-largest on record. Critics argued mandatory digital IDs would enable government surveillance. The savings from cancelling the program will instead fund a tax cut to help households with rising electricity bills. This mirrors a similar failed ID card initiative from the Blair era that was also axed after a change in government in 2011. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did the UK cancel its digital ID card program? The UK's new government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham scrapped the digital ID card scheme originally announced by former PM Keir Starmer, after millions of Britons opposed it. A parliamentary petition against the plan gathered nearly 3 million signatures, becoming the second-largest on record, with critics warning the scheme would enable surveillance. Savings from cancelling the £1.8 billion program will instead fund a tax cut to reduce electricity bills. _Anyone tracking government digital identity policy shifts can follow ongoing coverage on daily.dev._ ### How much would the UK's digital ID card scheme have cost? The national ID card system was projected to cost the UK government £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) over three years, though this figure came under dispute because the funding to support the scheme was allegedly never actually allocated. The program was introduced by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer before being scrapped by his successor, Andy Burnham. _Developers and policy watchers weighing the cost of national ID systems can dig deeper on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [UK.gov rejects £1.8B digital ID cost, offers no alternative](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-gov-rejects-1-8b-digital-id-cost-offers-no-alternative-i3qzwwyni) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK digital ID plan recast as time-saver](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-digital-id-plan-recast-as-time-saver-in7oqclwq) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Government drops plans for mandatory digital ID to work in UK](https://daily.dev/posts/government-drops-plans-for-mandatory-digital-id-to-work-in-uk-o0z5qr4b9) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vets Will Test UK Digital ID Plan](https://daily.dev/posts/vets-will-test-uk-digital-id-plan-c60pr4rsm) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What was missing from the UK digital ID consultation?](https://daily.dev/posts/what-was-missing-from-the-uk-digital-id-consultation--kgustxpfs) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-scraps-plans-for-digital-id-cards-after-millions-of-brits-opposed-invemomcs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-scraps-plans-for-digital-id-cards-after-millions-of-brits-opposed-invemomcs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-scraps-plans-for-digital-id-cards-after-millions-of-brits-opposed-invemomcs"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T14:16:11.946Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T21:19:00.468Z","description":"UK's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has scrapped a controversial digital ID card scheme proposed by his predecessor Keir Starmer. 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A parliamentary petition against the plan gathered nearly 3 million signatures, becoming the second-largest on record, with critics warning the scheme would enable surveillance. Savings from cancelling the £1.8 billion program will instead fund a tax cut to reduce electricity bills. Anyone tracking government digital identity policy shifts can follow ongoing coverage on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How much would the UK's digital ID card scheme have cost?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The national ID card system was projected to cost the UK government £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) over three years, though this figure came under dispute because the funding to support the scheme was allegedly never actually allocated. The program was introduced by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer before being scrapped by his successor, Andy Burnham. Developers and policy watchers weighing the cost of national ID systems can dig deeper on daily.dev."}}]} ```