Public Consultation On Digital ID Delayed Until 2026
Public support for digital ID collapsed after its announcement (Alamy)
3 min read
Exclusive: The government has delayed consulting with the public on the development of digital ID plans until the new year, PoliticsHome understands.
When the policy was announced in September, the government said it would launch the consultation "later this year".
It is now not expected to be published until the beginning of next year, which government insiders say is due to the handling of the policy recently moving from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to the Cabinet Office.
However, there is also an acknowledgement within government that it will take time to create a consultation that asks the right questions and provides the public with the best opportunity to help design digital ID, following criticism of how the policy was sold to the public when it was first announced.
There had been questions about whether the Labour administration would go through with the policy after polling published shortly following the announcement in September found a sharp drop in public support for the idea.
A More in Common survey said that net support for digital ID had fallen from 35 per cent in June to -14 per cent in the weekend after the announcement.
Keir Starmer announced ahead of Labour Party conference in September that the government would introduce digital ID before the next general election, arguing that the move would modernise the state and help tackle illegal migration.
The PM later admitted that the government needed to "make the case" for digital ID, and placed a greater emphasis on its "transformational" impact on public services.
The government also plans to step up its communications around the policy in response to the recent spread of fake information about the proposal.
The BBC was forced to apologise after comedy show Have I Got News For You repeated misinformation circulating online in September that the company run by the son of former prime minister Tony Blair, Euan, had been awarded a government contract to produce the digital ID scheme.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall told MPs last month that there had been "a lot of misinformation" and "scaremongering" spread about digital ID.
In October, the information commissioner John Edwards warned a cross-party committee that the government’s digital ID scheme would not work without public trust.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson told PoliticsHome: "An expert team is working at pace to develop the proposals, learning from other countries — like Denmark and Australia — who already have successful schemes, to create a system that is secure, convenient and inclusive.
"We are already engaging across industry, business and interested groups, and will launch a full public consultation ahead of any final decisions on the scheme being made."
