PM pulls focus from shady ideas man as he faces last stand

LABOUR’S latest wheeze to look tough on illegal migration is to turn the UK into a “papers please” nation, but Westminster veterans smell a rat.

- Sam Lister Associate Editor

TROUBLE: PM with chief of staff Morgan McSweeney

Sir Keir Starmer announced plans for a digital identity card that will have to be produced by workers when they start a new job. It would deter illegal migrants from crossing the Channel because they would not be able to earn, according to the Prime Minister.

But the Government has no answers about when it will be introduced, what it would do to force people to take them up or how it would stop a surge in the black market.

Such a system goes against British sensibilities and will be deeply controversial. So controversial, in fact, that Tories believe the announcement is merely a “dead cat”, which means throwing something shocking into the news cycle to deflect attention away from what is really going on.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is among those who questioned the announcement. She was quick to brand it a “gimmick” that will not stop the boats, adding: “It’s a desperate distraction from their scandals.”

‘And blimey, those scandals are mounting up.