Scrapping digital ID will help Andy Burnham’s government bring a “laser focus” to tackling the cost of living, Labour’s deputy leader has said.
Amid questions about how much cash abandoning the project would save, Lucy Powell said the decision was “not just about the money” but would also “clear the decks” of potential distractions from Mr Burnham’s agenda.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Powell pointed to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s claim last year, rejected by the Government at the time, that digital ID could cost £1.8 billion over three years.
Describing this as “not an insignificant amount of money”, she added: “It’s not just about the money.
“It’s actually about the attention and the focus, so that the whole of government machinery can work in service of the agenda and the vision that the Labour government is setting out under Andy Burnham.”
She said the decision would ensure the government was “laser focused on the cost of living, laser focused on rewiring the economy, rewiring the political system in this country”.
The incoming prime minister’s team has indicated the decision to scrap digital ID is part of a “reset of priorities” Mr Burnham will set out when he takes over from Sir Keir Starmer on Monday.
In his first speech from Downing Street, he is expected to set out measures to provide “breathing space” on the cost of living, while elaborating on his commitment to devolve power away from Westminster and ensure economic growth throughout the UK.
Reports have suggested this could include approval of further oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which Mr Burnham has promised to honour, said the party would not issue new North Sea licences, arguing they would “not take a penny off bills” or improve energy security while accelerating climate change.
But the incoming prime minister is said to be “open-minded” about the policy.
He could claim not to be breaking the manifesto pledge by approving projects at the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields, where licences have already been granted, while still not issuing any new licences.
On Sunday, Ms Powell would not say whether Mr Burnham was preparing to approve more drilling, but said he would take a “more pragmatic approach” while sticking to the party’s manifesto commitments.
She added that she was not expecting a “change of policy” but “more a change of emphasis”.
Support for new drilling could also complicate Mr Burnham’s choice of chancellor, a decision he said on Friday he had not yet made.
One of the leading candidates is thought to be Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who has been a strong supporter of Labour’s manifesto commitment on the North Sea, while reports suggest Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood may be in line for the crucial role instead.
In her BBC interview, Ms Powell hit out at “quite horrible” and “unedifying” speculation about who the chancellor will be, and appeared to blame the press for the briefing war between Labour politicians.
She said: “I know that, as political journalists, maybe you’ve not had the story of the Labour leadership crisis to write about for the last few weeks…And maybe because political journalists haven’t had all that to write about, they’re looking for other personalities and other disagreements to write about.”
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has criticised Mr Burnham for not setting out his plans before Monday, describing his comments so far as “airy-fairy stuff”.
The Conservative leader told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg she thought Mr Burnham was “a people pleaser” rather than someone who would make “tough decisions”.
Mr Burnham has pledged to reach out to other parties and end a culture of political “point scoring” at Westminster.
But Mrs Badenoch said she would “score as many points as possible if it means the right thing for the country”.
She added: “What I’m not going to do is give Andy Burnham a blank cheque.
“This is a man who doesn’t want scrutiny, he doesn’t want anyone asking him tough questions, he just wants to be a people pleaser.”
