Every UK adult will need digital ID under Keir Starmer's plan to tackle illegal migration

The card, which is reportedly called a "Brit Card", is expected to be able to verify an individual’s right to live and work in the UK.

However, the ID card will need to undergo a consultation and would require legislation to implement.

Sir Keir's Government began looking at proposals for some form of digital ID for adults in Britain as illegal migrants continued to cross the Channel in their droves.

Ministers believe the scheme could prove vital in tackling illegal migrants working in the black economy.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has voiced her support for digital ID cards.

Speaking earlier this month, Ms Mahmood confirmed she has "always been in favour" of the scheme.

The Home Secretary added: “In fact, I supported the last Labour Government’s introduction of ID cards.

"The first bill I spoke on in Parliament was the ID cards bill, which the then Conservative-Lib Dem coalition scrapped.”

However, more than 120,000 Britons have signed a petition opposing the introduction of digital ID cards.

Civil liberties groups have also put pressure on the Home Office not to reintroduce digital ID cards.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the group of organisations said: “Mandatory digital ID is highly unlikely to achieve the Government’s objective of tackling unauthorised immigration.

“The proposed schemes fundamentally misunderstand the ‘pull factors’ that drive migration to the UK and would do very little to tackle criminal people-smuggling gangs or employers and landlords who operate ‘off the books’.

“Instead, it would push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows, into more precarious work and unsafe housing.”

Big Brother Watch's interim director, Rebecca Vincent, also warned the scheme would be “uniquely harmful to privacy, equality and civil liberties”.

Polling conducted by More in Common last November found that 53 per cent of Britons support the introduction of digital ID cards, with just 19 per cent against.

More than two-thirds of 2024 Tory voters backed the proposal, with 60 per cent of Labour supporters and 59 per cent of Reform UK backers also supporting digital ID cards.

Ex-Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair has been pushing for the reintroduction of digital ID cards over recent years.

Sir Tony's think tank this week published a report that suggested there is growing public support for a “super-digital identity card” which would allow people to access public services and report problems in their local area.

Sir Keir's Government initially rejected Sir Tony's suggestion just two days after the 2024 General Election, with then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper rejecting the suggestion that the idea was Government policy.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly warned that the lack of ID cards in the UK acts as a major pull factor to thousands of migrants who cross the Channel to work in the black economy.

Despite the proposal being supported on both sides of the Channel, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has recently described digital ID cards as a "tool of suppression".

Speaking earlier this month, Mr Farage said: "ID cards would make no difference to illegal immigration whatsoever.

"Why would I trust these two parties in Government after what they did with vaccine passports and much else?

"I don’t trust them with it, I don’t trust the information – it would be used as another tool of suppression."

Meanwhile, the Tory Party remains split on the introduction of digital ID cards.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp backs the idea, while Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has voiced his opposition to the proposal.