Andy Burnham will abandon Labour’s national digital ID scheme upon becoming Prime Minister, redirecting funds toward tackling the cost of living crisis.
The incoming Prime Minister announced on Saturday that he would cancel the programme, which had been approved only months earlier by Sir Keir Starmer.
Burnham’s decision represents a significant break from his predecessor, who backed the divisive plans last September as a measure to combat illegal migration.
The proposed “Brit card” would have recorded the holder’s residency status, name, date of birth, nationality and photograph in a single digital document.
The scheme had attracted high-profile support from former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and former Conservative leader Sir William Hague.
According to estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the programme carried a running cost of around £600m per year.
A spokesperson for Burnham said his government will instead “put its focus where people need it right now: creating breathing space and delivering change they can feel in their everyday lives.”
“That means all the time and resource that was going to be spent on a national ID scheme will go instead to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living,” the spokesperson added.
Burnham’s camp also said: “This government is determined to bring power back to communities, instead of hoarding it in Whitehall. We will work every day to lift this country back up to where it belongs, with growth in every postcode, and hope in every heart.”
Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell backed the decision, saying the government wants to “clear the decks of the other things that might distract” from the cost of living agenda.
She told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It’s not just about the money. It’s actually about the attention and the focus, so that the whole of government machinery can work in service of the agenda and the vision that the Labour government is setting out.”
Burnham had first signalled his opposition to the scheme last autumn at the Labour conference, drawing on his experience as a junior Home Office minister under the Blair government.
He had said at the time: “I think there’s a risk of an opportunity-cost situation here where something can consume a huge amount of time and actually doesn’t come through.”
The Conservatives’ shadow technology secretary, Julia Lopez, accused Burnham of “trying to pretend he’s riding to the rescue” after Labour “wasted millions of pounds on this project.”