UK leader Starmer to announce digital ID card plans, media reports say

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a meeting with some of the Hillsborough families in 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, Sept 16, 2025. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Friday announce plans to mandate digital ID cards for all adult citizens as part of his plans to address illegal immigration, according to multiple media reports on Thursday.

The government has previously said it was considering such measures, which could be used to make it harder to employ those without the legal right to work in the country as it looks to address public concern over immigration.

Starmer's office did not comment on the reports, which said he would announce the plan at a policy conference on Friday.

In the 2000s Starmer's Labour Party, then led by Tony Blair, attempted to introduce a physical identity card, but the plan was eventually dropped by Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, after years of opposition that called it an infringement of civil liberties.

Britons have not been issued with identity cards since their abolition after World War Two, and typically use other official documents such as passports and driving licences to prove their identity when required.