MPs urge UK government to rebuild trust following digital ID launch ‘fiasco’
The potential of digital ID will only be realised if public confidence is restored, the UK’s Home Affairs Committee has warned, saying the scheme’s initial launch had been “botched” and a “fiasco”.
When prime minister Keir Starmer announced the digital ID scheme in September 2025, he said it would be mandatory for those working in the UK, to prevent people from slipping into the UK’s “shadow economy” and living in the country “illegally”.
“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have a digital ID. It’s as simple as that,” he said at the time. However, the compulsory element of the scheme was rolled back in January following backlash, including an online petition that garnered nearly three million signatures.
A report from the cross-party Home Affairs Committee concluded that digital ID has potential but that: “The prime minister’s initial announcement of mandatory digital ID was rushed, poorly thought through and failed to make a convincing case for the introduction of mandatory digital ID.”
Read more: As digital ID adoption grows, government leaders share lessons learned and future plans
Public ‘spooked’
Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the Home Affairs Committee, said: “The government’s early attempts to set out its plans for digital ID were nothing short of a fiasco. To the public this announcement came out of the blue and made little sense.
“It raised fears of government over-reach into people’s lives and was so poorly thought out that they had few answers to ease these concerns.”
She added that the concept of digital ID had been broadly “well received” by the public before they were “spooked” by the government’s “poorly thought out and badly explained plans”.
Read more: How to build digital credentials that work in government
Digital ID consultation
It was confirmed in the King’s Speech earlier this month that the government will proceed with the introduction of digital ID via the Digital Access to Services Bill.
The government will make digital ID available via a smartphone app to “those who want it” but has said that existing routes to accessing public services will stay in place for “those who prefer them”.
Launching an eight-week digital ID consultation in March, the government pitched digital ID as a way to end citizens’ “reliance on multiple logins and paper documents to access the support they need” and save them “time and effort”.
It also said it would establish a ‘people’s panel on digital ID’, bringing together citizens from across the country and from different backgrounds to take part in “in-depth discussions” and share “different views on the proposals and… agree ways to move forward”.
No ‘quick fix’
“Ministers have rightly gone back to the drawing board and begun the difficult task of rebuilding trust in what has the potential to be a valuable tool for government,” said Bradley.
“This will not be a quick-fix solution,” she added. “Each element of its future digital ID strategy must have clearly defined aims, a comprehensive plan for delivery and strong safeguards. Any future mistakes might prove fatal for public confidence.”
Read more: Digital identity dilemmas – and how governments are working to overcome them
About Sarah Wray
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as a journalist with a specialism in the public sector and topics such as digitalisation and climate action. Sarah was formerly the editor of Cities Today and Smart Cities World, as well as a specialist video-based publication in the aerospace sector. She has also written for publications including Smart Cities Dive, Mobile Europe, Mobile World Live and Computer Weekly.
