The ID will prove individual’s right to work, with Starmer saying that people will be unable to work without a valid digital card. 

The plans were laid out at the Global Progress Action conference in London, with roll-out expected to take place by the end of the Parliment. 

Whilst concerns have been raised about data security and potential government tracking, the government website highlights the potential to streamline services including tax records, welfare and license application. 

As reported by the BBC, storing the ID cards in a digital wallet poses little risk to the user. However if plans include an app development, privacy and tracking becomes more complicated. 

Starmer made clear that the ID cards will be compulsory for anyone looking to work in the UK, kept on people’s phones with details specifying an individual’s name, date of birth, nationality or residency status, and a photograph. 

He said that it’s been “too easy” for people to “slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally” and urged that the plan will make UK borders “more secure”.

The move will mean that employers can no longer rely on a National Insurance number, which can easily be borrowed or stolen from someone else.

The idea of ID cards was initially proposed by Tony Blair by way of the Identity Cards Act 2006. It faced backlash over concerns around data handling, rather than the cards themselves, and was repealed in 2011 by the Conservative / Liberal Democrats coalition. 

Unlike the initial scheme, the digital ID’s, provisionally called the “BritCard”, are set to be issued free of charge. 

On the government website, an “outreach programme” is mentioned alongside the venture, to provide “face-to-face support for citizens who are struggling to access the scheme.” No further details are given about this but it is expected to support the elderly, homeless, and other groups who may struggle to adopt the new digital ID.

Questions have been raised around access to necessary technology and whether gender and addresses will be included as necessary information. 

The PM calls it “an enormous opportunity for the UK” and recognises general concerns around “a secure border and controlled migration.”

The IDs will be available for all UK citizens and legal residents and will be required in order to work. For students, pensioners, or others not seeking employment, possessing a digital ID will be optional, and there will not be a reason to require them in day-to-day use.

Zack Polanski, leader of The Green Party, called the comment “bullshit” and said that “politicians have talked about little else for decades and almost always in the most toxic, dehumanising way possible.” 

In another challenge to the decision, leader of Reform, Nigel Farage, also took to X to say that it would make “no difference to illegal immagration, but it will be used to control and penalise the rest of us.” 

Farage concluded “the state should never have this much power”, while Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, said that while there are arguments “for and against” digital ID, making it mandatory “requires a proper national debate”.

In a post on X she said: “Can we really trust [Labour] to implement an expensive national programme that will impact all of our lives and put additional burdens on law abiding people? I doubt it.”

Featured image via No10 / Flickr.

New analysis by the Liberal Democrat party has revealed a previously unknown prolonged sewage leak that lasted for an entire year.

The analysis, based on recently released DEFRA data shows that multiple spills of sewage into British waterways have lasted for hundreds of days at a time.

The data showed South West Water oversaw the longest lasting sewage leak. In one instance, South West Water oversaw a singular spill lasting for the equivalent of 366 days, meaning leaks occured every day across the period.

The spill predominantly affected the Salcombe Regis Stream, a coastal waterway just east of Sidmouth in Devon. The company has said they are investigating the cause of high spill numbers from the Salcombe Regis site, positing that several “unauthorised connections to the sewer network are contributing high levels of additional flows into the sewer.”

A leak overseen by Southern Water was the second longest in duration, the analysis shows. On one occasion in their region, sewage leaked into the River Lavant for an equivalent of 285 days – with 287 spills recorded. The Lavant flows directly into Chichester Harbour which is a site of special scientific interest.

A recent study showed that chemical pollution at the Lavant site increases over 100 times after spillages.

The company, which covers Kent, Hampshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight, also appears multiple times in the list, placing at sixth place with a spillage of 228 days recorded into a tributary of the River Test.

Wessex Water and Anglian Water also saw long lasting leaks. Their longest spills saw waste pumped into rivers for 269 days and 229 days respectively.

The 269 day leak, recorded at Hurdcott wastewater treatment works, overseen Wessex Water, was from a high groundwater site, where groundwater enters the sewerage network and causes overflows to automatically operate to prevent flooding. Wessex Water noted that these discharges are not among the reasons for the River Bourne not achieving good ecological status.

Anglian Water admitted they “know our customers will be disappointed to see an increase in our storm overflow data this year”, and pointed to extreme weather and persistent flooding as reasons for the longer spills.

A spokesperson said: “We know our assets need to be resilient to changing weather patterns. We also understand the strength of feeling around storm spills, and having apologised, we have promised transformational action – because we know our climate is going to keep changing, so we have to find better ways of dealing with extreme rainfall.

“Our next five-year business plan builds at pace on the work we’ve already started. It contains our largest ever investment  – £1bn – into tackling storm spills, and £11bn overall to improve our performance. We’ve prioritised this work to deliver the biggest benefits first, because we recognise and share the desire of customers to get on with addressing this issue.”

A 217 day spill into Quinny Brook in Shropshire was documented by Severn Trent, the UK’s second largest water company.

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We’ve recently completed improvements at our Church Stretton site – including relining of pipes to prevent ground- and river-water from entering the system, adding storm water storage and increasing treatment capacity – which is having a positive impact on spills reduction.  

“In Shropshire, we’re investing more than £250million to improve storm overflows and over the last 12 months and we’ve already installed around 150 solutions along the River Severn with more to come. We expect that by December 2025 we will have reduced spills to the Severn to an average of 18 per year.  

“We’re committed to making a lasting difference and to play our part in helping Shropshire’s waterways be cleaner for generations to come.” 

The managing director of wastewater services at South West Water said in a statement: “We are one of only five companies in the industry to reduce spills compared to 2023. Our focus has been to reduce spills at beaches in the bathing season by 20 per cent in the last five years as we continue to focus on what our customers care about. We have also been focused on the highest spilling sites from 2023 and have already removed three-quarters of the top 20 sites.

“This is part of our 15-year investment plan – and while change on this scale takes time, we are already seeing positive results.

“We’re also proud to be an industry leader on data and transparency. We measure more spills, more often and therefore have highly accurate data.

“This progress has been made despite 2023/24 being the wettest hydrological year on record, with exceptional rainfall and groundwater. Against this challenging backdrop, the reduction in spills shows our plan is working – this is not an excuse but is important context.

“There is more to do and we are moving in the right direction driven by our determination to deliver on our customers’ priorities.”

Burnham, who has previously told the Department for Work and Pensions select committee that “rebranding” exercises aren’t sufficient to tackle employment, has proposed that job centres are rebranded into “Live Well” centres, as part of his strategy to encourage residents back to work.

Funding has now been allocated to the scheme, with £10 million given to kick-start the Live Well Development.

The project aims to establish physical centres, with comprehensive support expected to be superior to existing job centre services.

Burnham aims to bring a variety of voluntary and community organisations into the service, to improve support on a wider range of unemployment issues including housing and health.

He states that too many of Manchester’s residents are “held back by barriers like poor housing, longstanding poverty, ill health, lack of training opportunities and digital exclusion” and argues that the new service will integrate approaches to tackle these more complex issues.

Live Well centres will see the Greater Manchester Combined Authority partner with NHS Greater Manchester, local authorities, voluntary and community groups as well as faith and social enterprise organisations.

It is planned that the funding for the rebrand will enable “tailored support” for jobseekers, though no timeline for the Live Well centres has yet been established.

At the UNISON annual health conference in Liverpool, Streeting laid out his support package plan, in line with the recommendations accepted by the government under the Agenda for Change contract.The support will cover over a million workers within the NHS, following the implementation of an above-inflation pay rise.

In his speech, he declared “no one should go to work fearing violence”, citing figures that show one in every seven NHS employees have suffered harassment at the hands of the public.

Streeting disclosed plans to ensure information is collected at a national level, with analytics processed to understand if certain groups of staff face risks disproportionately.

As part of the plan to enhance support, he also announced a universal career structure for adult social care, as well as “millions of pounds” for investment into skills and training for care workers. He said the Prime Minister had wanted his sister, a care worker, to “command the same respect as her brother.”

The Department of Health and Social Care are set to work closely with the NHS to administer a national, digital system to fairly assess staff and place them in the appropriate pay band.

A total of 36 recommendations within the package have been accepted by ministers, with Streeting concluding his speech on the note that “the best is still to come.”

The next Holyrood election is due to be held in May 2026, with findings showing that if the election was held this month Reform UK would take 17 per cent of the constituency vote. This is now five per cent ahead of the Conservatives.

In the Regional list vote, the party would win 16 per cent of the vote.

Despite recent reports of fighting within the party, said to centre around a spat between Nigel Farage and ex-MP Rupert Lowe, Reform are quickly gaining support in Scotland.

Compared to January polls, the voting intention has seen a four per cent increase in favour of Reform. This change would see them gain four per cent seats in the election.

It displays a surge of voters who did not vote for them in the last general election, showing deepening support for the party. Nearly four in ten of Conservative voters in 2021 would now back Farage’s party.

This news comes amidst a claimed boost in support for Reform in Wales, where Farage has seen new councillors to the party.

The broader landscape in Scotland remains mostly stable, with the SNP maintaining their lead over Labour. Although the increase in Reform seats comes at the expense of the Conservatives, the deepening support for the party raises concerns that they could complicate Labour’s path to closing the gap with the SNP. In this projection, Labour have only five more seats than Reform.

In a response to the results, Stuart McMillian of the SNP and MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde said: “Labour is now locked in a battle with Nigel Farage for second place as they look set to record their worst result in the history of devolution.”

He added that the party had “broken so many of the promises they used to get elected”, referring to recent cuts on disability support, claiming that Labour “continues to treat Scotland as an afterthought.”

Facing criticism from both her own party and the shadow cabinet, Kendall’s speech set out cuts to health benefits, affecting some of the poorest people in the country.

The changes to the current benefit system mostly affect claimants of Personal Independence Payments, of which cases more than doubled from 2019 to 2023. These payments are designed to help with living costs for those who have both a “long term physical or mental health condition or disability” and “difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition.”

Kendall noted that claims for PIP are up to four times higher in areas of the Midlands, Wales and the North – areas she pinned as “decimated in the 80s and 90s”.

In this shakeup, she laid out plans to scrap the work capability assessment by 2028, meaning those eligible will be assessed on “capability and need” via the existing model of the PIP assessment. The controversial WCA has saw applicants blanket labelled as able or unable to work.

Any financial support for health conditions will be assessed under this single model, based on the impact of their condition on daily living. They also aim to increase the amount of face-to-face assessments, advocating for meeting “recording as standard” to uphold standards.

The labour government will be legislating for a “right to try”, for those receiving unemployment support. Under the current system, claimants are reassessed when their employment circumstances change.

Kendall stressed labour’s policy to “never reassess” those with the most severe disabilities and health problems, whilst overhauling the DWP’s safeguarding approach.

Changes were announced to the qualifications for the daily living element of PIP, meaning that applicants must score a minimum of four in one activity to be eligible. This is assessed on your ability to do things like make food or cook, socialise, handling money and speaking. At present, to qualify for the lower end of the payment an applicant must score between eight to eleven points. The higher amount is awarded to those scoring twelve or higher.

This reform will not affect the mobility element of the assessment, which includes the ability to move around and plan and follow a journey. Currently, the daily living component of PIP ranges from £72.65 to £108.55 per week. The mobility payments are a maximum of £75.75 weekly.

She confirmed that the PIP scheme will not be means tested, nor will the payments be frozen. Meaning that all applicants will be able to claim for the same amount as before, without their income impacting the amount they can receive. The previous governments’ proposals for vouchers will also not be brought forward, “because disabled people should have choice and control over their lives”.

It’s within Universal Credit that Kendall outlined the biggest changes: a “permanent, above inflation rise [in Universal Credit] for the first time.” This is set to be a £775 increase in cash terms by 2029. It comes amidst a promise to rebalance UC payments by next April.

Contributions based job seekers allowance and employment support allowance will now be consolidated into a “new, time limited unemployment insurance”. It is planned to be paid at a higher rate than existing support, with no proof required to access the funding.

Kendall stated: “If you have paid into the system, you will get help without question while we help you get back on track.”

Keen to emphasise the initiatives to “Get Britain Working”, she confirmed investments of 1 billion for employment support. Tailored support will be provided to disabled people and those with long-term conditions. There will also be new support conversations for those facing barriers to work to provide earlier opportunities to discuss employment goals and help available.

In a controversial move, Kendall announced that the government will delay access to Universal Credit Health Top Up until the age of 22. The money saved will be reinvested into work support and training for young people as part of the “Youth Guarantee”.

For those currently receiving incapacity benefits, mandatory reassessments will be reinstated, having been predominantly halted since 2021. Exceptions for those who will never work will be considered, along with those in receipt of end of life care.

Speaking on the points outlined in the green paper, Kendall said that: “This will mean fairness for disabled people and those with long term health conditions, but also for the taxpayers who fund it as these measures bring down the benefits bill. “

Former Labour ministers, including ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, have spoken out against Kendall in the House of Commons. Dawn Butler called the policies “rather crass”, stating that employment services shouldn’t “be linked to saving money”.

The SNP’s leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn likened the policies to Conservative austerity, and called the cuts “a total betrayal of the promises they made to people at the election.”

Kendall’s green paper seems to have caused a deepening anger outside of parliament, advocates for the disabled community have yet to speak positively on the decisions briefed.

Multiple charities have already issued statements against the changes in welfare systems. Sarah Hughes, the CEO at Mind, a UK based charity supporting those living with mental health issues, said that “reforms will only serve to deepen the nations mental health crisis.” Whilst the executive director of strategy for Scope, James Taylor, stressed that independence payments were “never designed to help people find work”.