Andy Burnham has halted one of his predecessor’s most prominent initiatives. Starmer’s planned national digital ID, known as the Brit Card, will not go ahead.
This does not amount to a complete reversal of Britain’s digital strategy. Burnham intends to preserve – and in some cases strengthen – key elements of the country’s online safety and age-verification policies.
The digital card was due to be introduced by 2029 and was initially intended to serve as compulsory proof of the right to work in Britain. The system would have stored the holder’s name, date of birth, nationality and immigration status, together with a photograph for biometric verification.
The scheme was highly controversial. A petition opposing it attracted around three million signatures. Burnham said the decision formed part of a “reset of priorities”. The new prime minister argued that time and resources should be directed toward tackling the cost of living and supporting local and regional priorities rather than building a national identity system.
In Whitehall, however, there is uncertainty about what exactly Burnham has scrapped. According to media reports, the Brit Card will disappear as a flagship project, but the infrastructure for digital credentials will survive.
Citizens will still be able to store government documents on their smartphones and use them to prove their identity, age or entitlement to benefits. This may no longer amount to a national digital ID in the original sense, but much of the underlying architecture will remain.
Right-to-Work Checks Set to Be Tightened
Burnham may have abandoned the centralized identity card, but he has not dismantled the broader system of digital identity checks.
Right-to-work checks are expected to continue and, according to media reports, could even be extended to the gig economy, including parcel couriers and food-delivery drivers, who are generally engaged on a job-by-job basis rather than formally employed.
The same continuity is evident in online safety policy. The Online Safety Act and age-verification requirements will stay in force, while Ofcom’s regulatory powers will remain intact.
As early as 2008, when he was culture secretary, Burnham advocated “child-safe” websites, age ratings for online content, internet service packages offering child-safe access and international rules governing English-language websites. There is no indication that his position has changed.
Social Media Ban for Under-16s Remains on Course
The clearest sign of continuity is the planned ban on social media for children under 16. The British government had announced such restrictions for platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. Messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal are not expected to be covered.
The proposals were among the final measures announced by the Starmer government. So far, there is no indication that Burnham intends to abandon them.
Any government seeking to enforce a social media ban for under-16s must also establish which users are over 16. In practice, all users would therefore have to prove that they are not in the restricted age group.
A less stringent set of rules is planned for 16- and 17-year-olds. A social media “curfew” between midnight and 6 a.m., restricting certain functions, would apply automatically but could be switched off. Features such as autoplay, infinite scrolling and personalized recommendations would also be disabled by default for older teenagers. The new government intends to retain these measures.
VPN Loophole Places New Burden on Platforms
Under Burnham, there are no plans to ban VPNs, restrict their use directly or require providers to verify the age of their users.
Officials reportedly estimate that only 7% to 10% of children would deliberately use VPNs to circumvent age checks. They also argue that restrictions on the technology could undermine freedom of expression.
This does not mean that VPN-based circumvention will simply be ignored. The government is instead planning “robust steps” to detect and prevent attempts by minors to evade the rules.
Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office have been asked to report by October on how platforms can better identify underage users who connect through VPNs. The burden of enforcement would therefore fall primarily on social media companies rather than VPN providers.
Such measures could involve more extensive profiling, device checks, analysis of location data and monitoring of behavioral patterns. What appears to be a less restrictive approach to VPNs may therefore result in more intrusive scrutiny of users by online platforms.
AI Takes Center Stage
Burnham intends to go significantly further in one area by appointing a cabinet-level minister for artificial intelligence.
Civil servants have also been instructed to draw up plans to transfer large parts of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to a more powerful department responsible for economic policy.
Burnham is therefore shifting the emphasis of Britain’s digital policy rather than overturning it. The Brit Card will disappear, but much of the infrastructure underpinning digital identity checks will survive. Online regulation and age verification will continue, while artificial intelligence is set to assume a more prominent role in the government’s economic policy.