The requirement of Starmer’s digital identification stimulates the left and right -wing outcry

The right and left parts of the United Kingdom have reached a rare consensus: they oppose the last attempt by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to limit illegal immigration through compulsory digital identity cards.

The plan, announced last week and which will be fully deployed by August 2029, has revived a debate several decades through the United Kingdom on the question of whether digital identifiers will be too intrusive or even effective in fighting illegal migration.

“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital identification. It is as simple as that,” said Starmer, head of the Labor Party, announcing the compulsory plan.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered his opening speech at the Labor Party Conference at ACC Liverpool on September 30, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Ian Forsyth / Getty Images)

But while illegal immigration has become an increasing concern on both sides of the aisle in the United Kingdom, Starmer’s approach encountered an open opposition.

Former Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who left the party in 2024 to be independent, said that he “firmly opposed the government’s plans for compulsory digital identity cards”.

“It is an affront to our civil freedoms and will make the lives of minorities even more difficult and dangerous,” he said. “It is an excessive state interference – and must be resisted.”

Corbyn, who launched his own political movement called “your party” this week as an alternative to what he called the “control monsters” of work, echoed similar criticism formerly expressed by right chief Nigel Farage, who founded Reform UK in opposition to the Conservatives.

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Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn talks to workers at the hotel striking on the line of stakes outside the Hotel Village on August 22, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images)

Farage, in an article on X, said that it was also “firmly opposed” to compulsory digital identity cards and argued: “This will not make any difference for illegal immigration, but it will be used to control and penalize the rest of us”.

“The state should never have so much power,” he added.

While the Starmer’s plan pulled the fire from the left and the right, although for very different reasons, the polls suggest that the public mood also changes.

The independent reported that more than half of the British Sustained digital id In June, with less than 20% opposite.

But this support seems to have changed radically, with almost half of all the British saying that they oppose the measure, according to the media.

The head of the British reform Nigel Farage is expressed during a press conference in Westminster, in the United Kingdom, on June 10, 2025. (Thomas Krych / Anadolu via Getty Images)

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The digital identity card, which can be kept on a smartphone, would include the name of a holder, residence status, date of birth and nationality. British reports said that it would only be used for employment verification, although its scope can be extended.

The plan faces the resistance: more than 2.4 million British signed a petition on the website of the Parliament which opposed it, reported the BBC. Any petition with more than 100,000 signatures must be considered for the debate.

N ° 10 could not be immediately joined to comment.