Wes Streeting Takes Thinly-Veiled Swipe At Keir Starmer Over Digital ID U-Turn

Wes Streeting has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Keir Starmer over his U-turn on digital ID cards.

The health secretary said he “gets the frustration” of Labour MPs left angry at the prime minister’s 13th climbdown since entering Downing Street.

Streeting said the government should debate the pros and cons of controversial policies before announcing them, rather than afterwards.

His comments on BBC Breakfast will be seen as a rebuke of Starmer’s repeated U-turns in the face of pushback from voters and his own MPs.

Presenter Naga Munchetty told Streeting: “Your own politicians are being marched up a hill ... and then been marched down again. There is going to be a real depletion in terms of enthusiasm of your own MPs if this keeps happening.”

Streeting said: “I get that frustration on the part of Labour MPs. I think one of the ways we ought to put that right is to make sure that when we’re doing big things or things that might be controversial, that we have the debate in advance of the decision rather than the debate after the decision.”

He added: “If that’s the approach we take, where we debate ideas, we put them out there, we see if they stand up to scrutiny, we listen to difference perspectives, and then make the decision and move forward ... that’s how we avoid making mistakes.”

It was confirmed on Tuesday night that the government was ditching its plans to make it compulsory to carry state-sanctioned digital ID cards.

That was despite Starmer himself announcing the policy just four months ago.

“People who are not normally as bothered by this issue are livid,” one MP told HuffPost UK. “It’s another case of them being made to look like utter fools.”

Another MP said it was Starmer’s association with the policy which had made it so unpopular.

He said: “Some of us weren’t that worried about it, but as soon as the PM thought it a good idea our constituents started to email us. That’s the trouble.”