The U.K.’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has confirmed the U.K. government is scrapping a controversial digital ID card scheme announced last year by the country’s previous leader.
The Burnham administration said the savings from the scrapped ID cards program will fund a tax cut aimed at cutting household electricity bills amid the rising costs of living. The newly appointed finance minister, John Healy, said the changes aim to bring some “breathing room on bills, and provide some reassurance this winter.”
The plan to roll out digital identity cards was introduced by the former prime minister Keir Starmer, who argued that state-issued IDs would crack down on migrants working illegally and would modernize access to government services. The national ID card system would have cost the government £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) over three years, but that figure came under dispute as money to fund the scheme was allegedly never allocated.
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