The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has dropped plans to make a centralized digital ID mandatory for workers, softening a flagship policy that would have required every employee to prove their right to work via a government‑issued credential rather than traditional documents like passports.
The move follows months of backlash from critics, including UK Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe, Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage and other cross‑party politicians, civil liberties groups and campaigners.
Opponents it risked building an “Orwellian nightmare,” centralizing sensitive data in a honeypot vulnerable to hacking, and into areas such as housing, banking and voting.
Almost three million people signed a parliamentary opposing digital ID cards. Lowe the policy shift in a video on X, saying he was off for “a very large drink to celebrate the demise of mandatory Digital ID,” while Farage it was “a victory for individual liberty against a ghastly, authoritarian government.”
UK waters down mandatory digital ID after public backlash
Officials now digital right‑to‑work checks will remain mandatory, but when the UK’s digital ID scheme is introduced around 2029, it will be offered on an optional basis alongside alternative electronic documentation, rather than being imposed as the only route to employment verification.
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That partial rollback highlights how public unease over tying basic rights like work to a single government‑run identifier is reshaping policy, echoing wider debates over and the , where both civil society groups and some lawmakers have rather than blanket traceability.
Digital euro and EU digital ID explore privacy‑preserving designs
As the UK softens its stance, the European Union is moving ahead with its own digital identity framework and digital euro plans, but has explored using so citizens can prove attributes (such as age or residency) without exposing all underlying personal data.
These types of measures, along with and privacy‑preserving tools on blockchains, such as zero‑knowledge credential systems and privacy‑enhancing smart contract designs, aim to reconcile compliance with data minimization, offering an alternative to centralized databases that store all user information in one place.
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Crypto privacy tools rise as policymakers test onchain ID controls
Against that backdrop, privacy‑focused crypto tools, from privacy coins like Zcash () and Monero () to protocols, continue to attract attention from users worried about financial surveillance and data breaches, as regulators step up scrutiny and explore ways to embed identity checks into DeFi and self‑hosted wallets.
The and renewed interest in privacy tokens have shown that policymakers are actively testing ways to fold stronger and controls into onchain infrastructure at the same time as builders push privacy‑preserving alternatives.
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