'You don't know what you're doing!' Michelle Dewberry delivers brutal slapdown of ex-Labour MP over 'shambolic' Digital ID U-turn

The Prime Minister is set to embark on his 13th major U-turn as mandatory Digital IDs are to be scrapped as part of the planned 2029 rollout.

Ministers are understood to be considering making the planned digital ID Right to Work checks voluntary rather than compulsory, according to PoliticsHome and The Times.

Reacting to the reports, Michelle told Mr McCabe: "Don't get me wrong, I still think the whole thing of Digital ID is ridiculous anyway, so I don't support any of it. But notwithstanding that, lots of people, Steve McCabe, will think two things right now.

"Firstly, they will think 'fabulous, if this happens, it's a step in the right direction'. Secondly, they will think your bill is an absolute shambles because I've lost track now of the number U-turn this will be, if indeed it happens."

The Labour Peer responded: "Well, first of all, I'm a fan of Digital ID and I think eventually we will end up with Digital ID in this country. What is being proposed, if it's in fact accurate, is that the employment element that you refer to has been taken out.

"That was because a lot of business organisations and employers said it would make life too complicated for them. If the Government wont change its mind, it's called stubborn, they won't listen, they're intransigent. If the Government changes its mind, it's another U-turn. You can't have it both ways!"

Michelle hit back: "You can't say that with a straight face. Sure. If a Government casually changes its mind, if they get new information and change their position, respect to you.

"But the Government is ping ponging. If you imagine those pinball machines, your Government is like one of those balls ricocheting left to right, spinning around all over the place. You don't know what you're doing. That's my challenge to you."

Mr McCabe then argued: "I absolutely disagree with that. This has been a controversial issue, it wasn't in the manifesto, various groups objected to it, and now it's been suggested to look at it again."

Weighing in on the debate, broadcaster and pollster Matt Goodwin told the Labour Peer: "Labour came into this, and this was never in Labour's manifesto. They just kind of pulled it out of the hat and said, well, like typical Labour politics, we're going to impose this measure on everybody else despite never even putting it in the manifesto.

"They looked at the polling and thought, 'oh, actually, this isn't as clear cut, it looks like lots of people don't like this'. Then everyone hits social media from Nigel Farage onwards saying, 'well, I'm not going to comply with this'. And by the way, I also said that. And I think they then saw this is just going to be mass civil resistance to an authoritarian regime nobody ever voted for to begin with."

As Mr McCabe argued that the move to Digital ID was "considered in the context of illegal working", Mr Goodwin hit back: "If you're breaking into the country illegally and you're already in the black economy, you're not going to get caught by Digital ID checks.

"It wasn't in the manifesto. That's not how we do democracy in this country. We put the things in front of the people and then they vote on it.

"What we don't do is we don't run off to the Blairite Institute, little Tony Blair's institute, and we say, 'Tony, without any democratic mandate, what can we put on top of the British people?'"

Criticising the Labour Government directly, Mr Goodwin fumed: "13 U-turns. I tell you what, this Government is shambolic.

"It is inconsistent, it is collapsing in the polls, and. I think this Government will not get to the end of this year. We need a General Election now, and we need Keir Starmer out of No10.

"It looks ridiculous to the country, to the voters, to the electorate. This whole show looks ridiculous. Starmer told us he'd be the adult in the room, we'd be back to responsible, stable leadership. 13 U-turns. The barely been in office for a little over, what, 18 months? A complete sham."

Asked by Michelle if he is "embarrassed" by the performance of Keir Starmer's Government, Mr McCabe replied: "Honestly, I don't think so at all. I have seen just as many things happen in Governments of all shades in the past. I see a Government that inherited a torrid state of affairs from its predecessors, and it has done its level best in some very difficult circumstances to weave apart.

"Some of its communications have been really poor, and I'd be the first to acknowledge that, but I don't actually criticise them for having a change of mind if they realise that something isn't worth the candle."