Can I see your BritCard? Downing Street looking to bring in app to crackdown on illegal immigration
Downing Street is looking to bring in an identity card app in a bid to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Senior No 10 figures are said to be examining proposals for a new BritCard which would display a person's right to live, work and rent in the UK.
The idea, which would see individuals' identities stored on a smartphone, also aims to tackle benefit fraud by linking the card to government records and has received support from several cabinet ministers, inluding cabinet office minister Pat McFadden and technology secretary Peter Kyle.
Advocates think the scheme will send the message that Britain is not 'a soft touch' on illegal migration and will decrease the 'pull' factor, which many European countries blame for the ongoing small boats crisis, The Times reports.
Britain remains the only European nation without an ID card system, with Tony Blair 's famous attempt to introduce one collapsing in 2011, after the coalition government pulled the plug on it.
It is also hoped the app can tie a number of different services together, including ordering passports, displaying driving licences and national insurance numbers, and offering NHS services.
Labour Together, a think tank run by Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, from 2017 to 2020, has collated plans for the card and sent them to Downing Street.
They include a requirement to 'show' the ID when renting a property or starting a new job, with the system automatically checking their right to work or rent against government records.
Existing documents to check identity can be easily forged, potentially deceiving landlords or prospective employers.
A mock up of the app, seen in the plans, shows a screen with an individuals' face and name on it, as well as his right to work and rent statuses, driving licence, and options to share identity or age.
The report, published on Friday, urges the Prime Minister to make digital identity a 'top prime ministerial priority' and commence a 'fundamental transformation in the way British citizens interact with the government'.
It points to a poll which suggests 80 per cent of the public back the implementation of digital right-to-work credentials, with just under one in three believing it would act as a deterrent against people entering the country illegally.
The report said that those who did not want to have a digital ID card on their phone would be allowed to carry a physical one instead.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has placed herself in opposition to some of her colleagues, including many from the 'Red Wall' wave of Labour MPs, with Home Office sources describing her position as 'nuanced'.
Sir Keir Starmer has admitted the public has 'every right to be angry' about the issue after more than a thousand migrants made the journey in a single day for the first time this year.
Home Office data showed 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats on Saturday.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper , pictured in May, has placed herself in opposition to some of her colleagues, including many from the 'Red Wall' wave of Labour MPs
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described Sir Keir's words as 'rubbish', claiming that even Defence Secretary John Healey had acknowledged ministers had 'lost control' of the borders.
Saturday's figures were the first time daily crossings topped a thousand in 2025, and prompted Mr Healey to claim Britain had 'lost control' over the last five years, implicating the former Tory government.
Writing on social media site X on Monday, the Prime Minister said: 'You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings.
'I'm angry too. We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people smuggling gangs at source.'
He claimed hundreds of boats and engines had been 'seized', raids on illegal working were up, and 'almost 30,000 people' had been returned.
But Mrs Badenoch hit back, responding: 'Rubbish! Even the Defence Secretary admits the govt has 'lost control' of our borders.'
Small boat arrivals are 'up 95% from this point in 2023', she said, and claimed ministers had 'scrapped the only viable deterrent': the previous Conservative government's Rwanda plan.
Sir Keir had earlier insisted the Rwanda plan 'didn't deter anybody', after his decision to scrap it was highlighted while he visited Glasgow for a major defence announcement.
He added: 'I'm not up for gimmicks. I'm up for the hard work of working with partners, enhancing the powers that law enforcement have, in my determination to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade.'
Saturday's crossings brought the provisional annual total so far of migrants who have made the journey to 14,811.
This is 42 per cent higher than the same point last year (10,448) and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610).
It is still lower than the highest daily total of 1,305 arrivals since data began in 2018, which was recorded on September 3, 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
24 minutes ago
- Sky News
Charges over Ballymena riots as centre housing foreign families attacked
Three teenagers have been charged with rioting in Ballymena - as a community centre housing migrant families affected by the violence was attacked. An 18-year-old man, and two boys aged 15 and 17, are expected to appear before Ballymena Magistrates' Court today. The 15-year-old has also been charged with criminal damage. Two other teenage boys who were arrested during the disorder have been released on bail, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said. Masked youths attacked Larne Leisure Centre and set it on fire on Wednesday evening after it emerged some of the foreign families fleeing the rioting were being temporarily held there. There have been calls for Northern Ireland's communities minister to resign after he was accused of inflaming tensions in a social media post. Prior to the attack, he wrote he had been made aware individuals had been "temporarily moved" to the building "following the disturbances in Ballymena", which is around 25 minutes away. Police said ethnic minorities had been targeted in the violence, which they have described as "racist thuggery". 1:52 Mr Lyons said in his post: "As a local MLA for the area, neither I nor my DUP council colleagues were made aware or consulted on this decision until late this afternoon." He added: "It has now been confirmed to us by the PSNI and council that all these individuals are in the care of the Housing Executive and have been moved out of Larne. "Protesting is of course a legitimate right, but violence is not and I would encourage everyone to remain peaceful." 2:46 Some politicians have said Mr Lyons should be considering his position, while Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said it was not helpful to publicise where people had been moved. Asked if he should still be in his job, he told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: "Absolutely." He insisted the information was already in the "public domain". Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said the leisure centre had been designated as an emergency rest centre, but the families had been safely relocated elsewhere.
North Wales Chronicle
34 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Rachel Reeves fails to rule out future tax rises as economy shrinks
The Chancellor has repeatedly said the cost of Wednesday's spending review is covered by the tax rises she brought in last year, saying departments must now 'live within their means'. But economists have warned a weakening economy and additional commitments such as reversing much of the cut to winter fuel payments mean taxes are likely to go up again in the autumn. Asked on Thursday whether she could guarantee there would be no further tax rises, Ms Reeves told LBC: 'I think it would be very risky for a Chancellor to try and write future budgets in a world as uncertain as ours.' But she again repeated her promise that she would not need to increase taxes on the same scale as last year, when she put them up by £40 billion. She rejected the suggestion she was a 'Klarna Chancellor' who had announced a 'buy now, pay later' spending review. She said: 'The idea that yesterday I racked up a bill that I'm going to need to pay for in the future, that's just not right.' Her comments come as the Office for National Statistics reported the economy shrank by 0.3% in April – the biggest monthly contraction since October 2023 and worse than the 0.1% fall most economists had expected. In recent days, both Ms Reeves and Number 10 have said the economy is beginning to turn a corner, allowing them to fund the U-turn on the winter fuel allowance. But Thursday's worse-than-expected economic news will make it harder for Ms Reeves to balance her spending commitments with Labour's promises on tax and borrowing. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: 'Ms Reeves is now going to have all her fingers and all her toes crossed, hoping that the OBR will not be downgrading their forecasts in the Autumn. 'With spending plans set, and 'ironclad' fiscal rules being met by gnat's whisker, any move in the wrong direction will almost certainly spark more tax rises.' The Chancellor acknowledged the reduction in GDP was 'disappointing', and blamed 'uncertainty' caused by Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs at the start of April for much of the fall. But opposition parties have laid the blame squarely with the Government, with Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride accusing Ms Reeves of 'economic vandalism'. He said: 'Under Labour, we have seen taxes hiked, inflation almost double, unemployment rise, and growth fall. With more taxes coming, things will only get worse and hard-working people will pay the price.' Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokeswoman, said the figures should act as 'a wake-up call for the Government which has so far refused to listen to the small businesses struggling to cope with the jobs tax' and urged ministers to pursue a 'bespoke UK-EU customs union' to compensate for the impact of US tariffs. The GDP figures come a day after the Chancellor revealed her spending plans for the coming years, including a significant increase in spending on the NHS, defence and schools. The biggest winner was the NHS, which will see its budget rise by £29 billion per year in real terms, leading the Resolution Foundation's Ruth Curtice to say Britain was slowly morphing into a 'National Health State'. But that rise came at the price of real-terms cuts elsewhere, including the Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. On Thursday, Ms Reeves rejected claims her decision on policing, which will see forces' 'spending power' increase by 2.3% above inflation each year, would mean cuts to frontline police numbers.
Powys County Times
34 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Rachel Reeves fails to rule out future tax rises as economy shrinks
Rachel Reeves failed to rule out further tax rises in the autumn as new figures showed the economy shrank more than expected in April. The Chancellor has repeatedly said the cost of Wednesday's spending review is covered by the tax rises she brought in last year, saying departments must now 'live within their means'. But economists have warned a weakening economy and additional commitments such as reversing much of the cut to winter fuel payments mean taxes are likely to go up again in the autumn. Asked on Thursday whether she could guarantee there would be no further tax rises, Ms Reeves told LBC: 'I think it would be very risky for a Chancellor to try and write future budgets in a world as uncertain as ours.' But she again repeated her promise that she would not need to increase taxes on the same scale as last year, when she put them up by £40 billion. She rejected the suggestion she was a 'Klarna Chancellor' who had announced a 'buy now, pay later' spending review. She said: 'The idea that yesterday I racked up a bill that I'm going to need to pay for in the future, that's just not right.' Her comments come as the Office for National Statistics reported the economy shrank by 0.3% in April – the biggest monthly contraction since October 2023 and worse than the 0.1% fall most economists had expected. In recent days, both Ms Reeves and Number 10 have said the economy is beginning to turn a corner, allowing them to fund the U-turn on the winter fuel allowance. But Thursday's worse-than-expected economic news will make it harder for Ms Reeves to balance her spending commitments with Labour's promises on tax and borrowing. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: 'Ms Reeves is now going to have all her fingers and all her toes crossed, hoping that the OBR will not be downgrading their forecasts in the Autumn. 'With spending plans set, and 'ironclad' fiscal rules being met by gnat's whisker, any move in the wrong direction will almost certainly spark more tax rises.' The Chancellor acknowledged the reduction in GDP was 'disappointing', and blamed 'uncertainty' caused by Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs at the start of April for much of the fall. But opposition parties have laid the blame squarely with the Government, with Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride accusing Ms Reeves of 'economic vandalism'. He said: 'Under Labour, we have seen taxes hiked, inflation almost double, unemployment rise, and growth fall. With more taxes coming, things will only get worse and hard-working people will pay the price.' Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokeswoman, said the figures should act as 'a wake-up call for the Government which has so far refused to listen to the small businesses struggling to cope with the jobs tax' and urged ministers to pursue a 'bespoke UK-EU customs union' to compensate for the impact of US tariffs. The GDP figures come a day after the Chancellor revealed her spending plans for the coming years, including a significant increase in spending on the NHS, defence and schools. The biggest winner was the NHS, which will see its budget rise by £29 billion per year in real terms, leading the Resolution Foundation's Ruth Curtice to say Britain was slowly morphing into a 'National Health State'. But that rise came at the price of real-terms cuts elsewhere, including the Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
