Sir Keir Starmer is said to have changed his mind on the proposals following pleas from senior figures including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Ministers believe digital ID cards could stop Channel migrants working illegally (Image: Getty)
Every adult in the UK will be ordered to carry digital ID cards as part of Labour’s efforts to tackle illegal immigration.
The Prime Minister is expected to give the plan the green light on Friday amid fears the black economy is convincing Channel migrants to cross in small boats.
Ministers will likely need to introduce new legislation for the so-called “Brit card”.
Migrants living in asylum hotels have been spotted working for delivery firms, such as JustEat and Deliveroo.
And some have admitted organising illegal roles before they even arrived.
Anyone starting a new job would be ordered to show the digital ID card, which would then allow officials to check the individual against a central database of those entitled to work in the UK.
Landlords would also be able to check someone’s immigration status, it is understood.
Sir Keir Starmer is said to have changed his mind on the proposals following pleas from senior figures including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Former Home Office minister Tom Pursglove branded the proposal “a new low” for Labour.
He added: “We already have right to work, rent and bank checks, with increasing biometric capabilities.
“This new ‘Digital ID’ will impinge on the freedoms – “Papers please!” – of the law abiding majority and won’t make a shred of difference to the problem it purports to solve.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “This announcement is a cynical ploy to fool voters that something is being done about illegal immigration.
“It’s laughable that those already breaking immigration law will suddenly comply, or that digital IDs will have any impact on illegal work, which thrives on cash-in-hand payments. All it will do is impinge further on the freedoms of law-abiding Brits.”
It comes as six migrants have now been returned to Keir Starmer’s one-in-one-out deal with Emmanuel Macron.
An Afghan and a Somali were sent back to the continent on Thursday morning, it is understood.
Others deported last week were from Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea and India.
More than 32,000 people have arrived in the UK after making the dangerous journey so far this year.
Keir Starmer is expected to announce the plans on Friday (Image: Getty)
And Boris Johnson on Wednesday night urged the Prime Minister to reverse his decision to cancel the Rwanda deportation scheme.
He said: “I think the government today should swallow its pride and get Rwanda done.
“What we what we have at the moment is a failure to control illegal immigration well.
“And that is, in fact, thanks to Brexit.
“We can do that because if you look at, if you look at the cross Channel, the people coming across in the dinghy, in the boats, that’s the thing that really drives the public nuts, and drives me nuts.
“We have a solution to that, and it’s the Rwanda solution, and it’s and it’s painful, it’s painful to see people now copying our idea, Americans, Italians.
“And what this appalling Labour government should be doing is, instead of going off to Albania and being humiliated by Edi Rama, I was there, you know, asking, begging, Edi Rama, begging the Albanians for a Rwanda solution.
“We should do the Rwanda scheme. That is the way to fix illegal that’s the way to fix the illegal cross Channel migration.”
And he insisted Britain must leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
He said: “They should be getting out of the ECHR that actually doesn’t make much difference to to the to the small boats problem.”
