Keir Starmer will tomorrow announce a national identity card programme with the explicit aim of making the UK economy less attractive for irregular migrants trying to find work in the grey economy.
So Tony Blair is back, in more ways than one. On policy: his 2006 proposal for a programme of national ID cards, which ultimately failed, has been revived. As for the politics: this is a bit of positioning that could have come straight from the Blair playbook.
Why? Because Nigel Farage’s Reform will oppose this measure on grounds of civil liberties, just as they did with the Online Safety Act. The fury of his supporters online (and many of them are very online) is already becoming clear.
That in turn will give the Government an opportunity to say Farage isn’t prepared to take the requisite “tough action” (insert cliché of your choosing) to drive down small boat crossings.
It did the same with the Online Safety Act, painting Reform’s opposition as a danger to the nation’s children. Labour pursued this attack line so excitedly that it resulted in a Cabinet minister claiming Farage was somehow allied with the late paedophile Jimmy Savile.
This idea was trailed a little earlier in the year, but it is bold of Starmer to mark such a clear line in the sand. I suspect this will result in a national debate approaching the hoarseness of the assisted dying question.
His team clearly hope it will work in driving down illegal working (file under: jury is out) but they also foresee potential political benefits.
[Further reading: The new battle for Labour’s soul]
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